The Oz Series
Chapter 9
Part of the Dorothy's Journey to the Wizard and Back to Kansas arc.
What happens
The Scarecrow judges they are near the yellow brick road, having come nearly as far as the river carried them. As the Tin Woodman is about to reply, he hears a low growl and sees a great yellow Wildcat bounding across the grass, ears back, mouth open showing rows of ugly teeth, and red eyes glowing like fire. Running before it is a little gray field mouse. Though he has no heart, the Tin Woodman knows it wrong for the Wildcat to kill such a harmless creature, so he raises his axe and, as the Wildcat runs by, cuts its head clean off, leaving it in two pieces at his feet.
The freed field mouse thanks the Woodman for saving its life. The Woodman, saying he has no heart and is careful to help all who need a friend even if only a mouse, learns from the indignant creature that she is the Queen of all the Field Mice. She declares he has done a great and brave deed. Several mice come running, relieved to find their Queen alive, and she tells them the tin man saved her and that hereafter they must all serve him and obey his slightest wish. Toto, awakening and seeing the mice, barks with delight and jumps into their midst, scattering them, having always loved chasing mice in Kansas. The Tin Woodman catches and holds Toto tight, calling the mice back and promising Toto will not hurt them.
The timid Queen, reassured, brings the mice back one by one; Toto refrains from barking, though he would bite the Woodman if he did not know he was tin. The biggest mouse asks how they can repay saving the Queen. The Scarecrow, thinking hard despite his straw head, asks them to save the Cowardly Lion asleep in the poppy bed. The Queen fears a Lion would eat them all, but the Scarecrow assures her this Lion is a coward who would never hurt their friend and would treat them with kindness. The Queen agrees to trust him and asks what to do.
The Scarecrow asks whether there are many mice willing to obey her; told there are thousands, he instructs the Queen to summon them all, each bringing a long piece of string. The Queen sends her attendant mice to gather her people. The Scarecrow directs the Tin Woodman to build a truck to carry the Lion; the Woodman chops limbs from the trees, fastens them with wooden pegs, and makes four wheels from a big tree trunk, finishing the truck as the thousands of mice—big, little, and middle-sized—arrive, each carrying a string. Dorothy wakes to find herself surrounded by thousands of timid mice; the Scarecrow explains everything and introduces her to the Queen, who curtsies, and the two become friendly.
The Scarecrow and Woodman harness the mice to the truck, tying one end of each string around a mouse's neck and the other to the truck. Though the truck is a thousand times bigger than any mouse, the harnessed mice pull it easily, even carrying the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, to where the Lion sleeps. After hard work they get the heavy Lion onto the truck, and the Queen orders a quick start, fearing the mice too will fall asleep among the poppies. The mice, pushed also by the Woodman and Scarecrow, roll the Lion out of the poppy bed to the fresh green fields. Dorothy thanks the mice warmly for saving her beloved Lion. The mice are unharnessed and scamper home; the Queen, leaving last, tells them to call in the field if they ever need her, and she will come. Dorothy holds Toto tight lest he frighten the Queen. They sit beside the still-sleeping Lion, and the Scarecrow brings Dorothy fruit for her dinner.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Cowardly Lion
- Tin Woodman
- Scarecrow
- Dorothy's Traveling Party
- Kansas
- Queen of the Field Mice
- Toto
- Field Mice
- poppy field
- road of yellow brick
- Wildcat