The Oz Series
Chapter 8
Part of the Dorothy's Journey to the Wizard and Back to Kansas arc.
What happens
The travelers awake refreshed and full of hope, and Dorothy breakfasts on peaches and plums from the riverside trees. With the raft nearly done, the Tin Woodman cuts a few more logs and fastens them with wooden pins, and they set out. Dorothy sits in the middle holding Toto, and though the raft tips badly under the heavy Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman steady it and pole it forward. In the middle of the river the swift current sweeps the raft downstream away from the yellow brick road, and the water grows too deep for the poles to reach bottom.
The Tin Woodman warns that if they cannot reach land they will be carried into the country of the Wicked Witch of the West, who will enchant them and make them her slaves; each companion laments losing the chance at brains, courage, a heart, or Kansas. The Scarecrow pushes so hard on his pole that it sticks fast in the mud, and before he can free it the raft is swept away, leaving the Scarecrow clinging to the pole in the middle of the river. He bids the others good-bye; the Tin Woodman begins to cry but dries his tears on Dorothy's apron to avoid rusting. The Scarecrow, stranded, reflects he is worse off than when stuck in the cornfield and fears he will never get brains.
The Lion proposes to swim to shore pulling the raft if the Tin Woodman holds fast to his tail. He springs into the water, the Woodman grips his tail, and the Lion swims hard until they are drawn out of the current, then Dorothy helps push the raft to land with a pole. Exhausted, they step onto the green grass, realizing the stream carried them far past the road. They decide to walk along the riverbank to find the road again. The country is lovely with flowers, fruit trees, and sunshine, though they feel sorry for the lost Scarecrow.
Walking as fast as they can, Dorothy stopping once to pick a flower, they spot the Scarecrow still perched lonely on his pole in the river. Unable to reach him, they sit on the bank until a Stork flies by and stops to rest. Dorothy introduces herself and her friends and explains they have lost the Scarecrow. Told he is light because he is stuffed with straw, the Stork agrees to try to carry him, warning she will drop him if he proves too heavy. The Stork flies out, grabs the Scarecrow's arm in her great claws, and carries him back to the bank. Overjoyed, the Scarecrow hugs his friends and sings "Tol-de-ri-de-oh!" as they walk, vowing to repay the kind Stork if he ever gets brains; the Stork flies off to her waiting babies after wishing them success.
The travelers walk on among increasingly thick flowers carpeting the ground: big yellow, white, blue, and purple blossoms and great clusters of dazzling scarlet poppies. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman comment they would appreciate the flowers more with brains or a heart, while the Lion says flowers seem helpless and frail. They enter a great meadow of scarlet poppies, whose powerful odor puts anyone who breathes it to sleep, and if not carried away the sleeper sleeps on forever. Unaware of the danger, Dorothy grows drowsy; the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow urge her onward, but she collapses asleep among the poppies, and Toto falls asleep beside her.
The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, not being made of flesh, are unaffected. The Lion, also succumbing, is told to run fast out of the deadly flower bed since he is too big to carry. The Lion bounds forward and vanishes. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman place Toto in Dorothy's lap and make a chair of their hands to carry the sleeping girl through the flowers. Following the river's bend, they come upon the Lion fallen fast asleep among the poppies, having given up just short of the poppy bed's edge. Judging him too heavy to lift, they leave him to sleep on, hoping he dreams he has found courage, and carry Dorothy to a safe spot beside the river to await the fresh breeze that will waken her.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Cowardly Lion
- Tin Woodman
- Scarecrow
- Dorothy's Traveling Party
- City of Emeralds
- Kansas
- Oz
- Toto
- poppy field
- road of yellow brick
- Stork
- Wicked Witch of the West