The Oz Series

Chapter 79

Part of the Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz: The Underground World arc.

This encyclopedia covers chapters 1 to 100 of the story and shows the world as it stands at chapter 100, so it contains spoilers up to that point. To read it spoiler free, one chapter at a time, open the interactive codex.

What happens

The mountain before them is cone-shaped and so tall its point is lost in the clouds. Directly facing where Jim stopped is an arched opening leading to a broad stairway cut in the rock inside the mountain; the stairs circle like a cork-screw, are broad and not very steep, and the circle is quite big where the flight begins. A sign at the foot reads a warning that the steps lead to the Land of the Gargoyles and to keep out. Dorothy wonders how Jim can draw the buggy up so many stairs; Jim declares it no trouble but refuses to carry passengers, so they must walk, and if the stairs steepen they must boost the buggy-wheels. They begin ascending, Dorothy and the Wizard first, then Jim drawing the buggy, then Zeb watching the harness.

The light dims to total darkness, so the Wizard lights his lanterns. They climb steadily to a landing with a rift in the mountain that admits light and air, through which they see the Valley of Voe far below with cottages like toy houses. After resting they resume; the broad low stairs let Jim draw the buggy easily, though the old horse pants and stops often to breathe. They wind upward until a broad streak of light announces a second landing, where one side of the mountain has a great cavernous hole and the stairs stop at the near edge of the floor and resume at the opposite edge.

This opening faces away from the Valley of Voe onto a strange scene: below is a vast space with a black sea of rolling billows shooting little tongues of flame; just above, almost level with the platform, are shifting, color-changing banks of rolling clouds in beautiful blues and greys, on which recline fleecy, shadowy forms Dorothy identifies as the Cloud Fairies, visible because the party is so near. Zeb, awed, asks if they are real and remarks they seem like open-work. In the open space between clouds and sea, enormous strange birds with fierce eyes and sharp talons and beaks wing past, reminding Zeb of the rocs of the Arabian Nights, and the children hope none enter the cavern.

The Wizard exclaims at a man standing in the center of the cave, who bows politely: a very old man bent nearly double, whose white hair and beard reach to his feet, carefully plaited into many braids, each end fastened with a bow of colored ribbon. He explains he came from no place recently, having once lived on top of the earth but now keeping his factory here, half way up Pyramid Mountain, discouraging Zeb who learns they are only half way up. The braided man says he is a great inventor and manufactures his products in this lonely spot: Assorted Flutters for flags and bunting, and a superior grade of Rustles for ladies' silk gowns. He leads them into a smaller cave that serves as his shop, where card-board boxes tied with cotton cord sit on a broad shelf. He offers Dorothy a box of twelve dozen rustles, insisting the rustles will escape whether or not she wears silk, and offers the Wizard a box of assorted flutters, invaluable to make flags flutter on a still windless day. The Wizard evades, saying he has no money; the braided man wants no money, only a blue hair-ribbon, since his braids are tied with yellow, pink, brown, red, green, white, and black but he has no blue. Dorothy fetches a pretty blue ribbon from her suit-case, delighting him, and in gratitude he insists the Wizard take the flutters and Dorothy the rustles, since there is no use manufacturing them unless someone uses them.

Asked why he left the earth's surface, the braided man tells his sad story: on earth he manufactured Imported Holes for American Swiss Cheese, plus pores for porous plasters and high-grade holes for doughnuts and buttons, and finally invented a new Adjustable Post-hole he expected would make his fortune. Having no storage room, he set the post-holes end to end and put the top one in the ground, making an extraordinarily long hole reaching far down into the earth; leaning over to see the bottom, he lost his balance and tumbled in. The hole led directly into the vast space outside the mountain, but he caught a projecting point of rock and saved himself from falling into the flaming black waves, and there made his home, amusing himself making rustles and flutters. When he finishes this absurd tale, Dorothy nearly laughs and the Wizard taps his forehead to indicate he thinks the man crazy; they politely bid him good day and return to the outer cavern to resume their journey.

Who is in play

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