The Oz Series
Chapter 96
Part of the The Road to Oz: The Shaggy Man's Journey to Ozma's Birthday arc.
What happens
The travelers find the houses of Dunkiton all low, square, brick, and whitewashed inside and out, placed haphazardly rather than in regular streets, which puzzles strangers. The grey donkey, walking awkwardly on his hind legs, boasts that only stupid people need streets and numbered houses while clever donkeys know their way, and that a mixed city is prettier. Dorothy sees a sign reading 'Madam de Fayke, Hoofist' and learns a hoofist reads fortunes in hoofs; the grey donkey claims Dunkiton is the center of the world's highest civilization. They pass two youthful donkeys whitewashing a wall by dipping their brush-like tails in a pail and wagging them against the wall; the old donkey explains the youngsters do all the whitewashing to keep out of mischief and that donkeys, being born wise, need only the school of experience, since books are for those who know nothing. The shaggy man retorts that the more stupid one is, the more he thinks he knows.
The grey donkey stops at a house marked over the doorway with a pair of hoofs, a donkey tail, and a rude crown and sceptre, and calls 'Whee-haw!' three times while kicking the door panel to see if King Kik-a-bray is home. A white donkey head with big ears and solemn eyes sticks out, asking in a trembling voice whether the foxes have gone; reassured that the arrivals are distinguished travelers, the King admits them. The party enters a big room unlike a palace, with woven grass mats and no other furniture; the King squats in the center while a little brown donkey brings a big gold crown for his head and a jeweled golden staff, which the King holds between his front hoofs. Eyeing Button-Bright's fox head warily, the King asks why they have come.
The shaggy man flatters the King as the cleverest king in the world and explains they are merely passing through because the road led there. This polite speech, perhaps aided by the Love Magnet, so pleases the King that it proves unlucky: declaring the shaggy man too wise to be a mere man and that he loves him as his own people, King Kik-a-bray waves his jeweled staff and bestows upon the shaggy man a donkey's head. Despite the shaggy man's cry and attempt to leap backward, his own head vanishes and an absurd brown shaggy donkey head appears, making Dorothy, Polly, and even Button-Bright laugh. The shaggy man demands his head back, but the King explains his magic works only one way—he can do things but not undo them—and that to regain his own head the shaggy man must find the Truth Pond and bathe in its water, though the King advises against it, calling the donkey head more beautiful.
The King says the Truth Pond is somewhere in the Land of Oz but he cannot give its exact location; Dorothy reassures the shaggy man they will find it if it is in Oz. Learning that Dorothy knows Princess Ozma, the excited King asks a favor: an invitation to Ozma's birthday celebration, the grandest royal function ever held in Fairyland. The shaggy man, braying involuntarily, laments his head and says the King deserves punishment rather than reward; Polychrome begs him to stop saying 'hee-haw' because it gives her chills, but he explains his donkey head wants to bray continually. Dorothy consults Polly, who says the donkey king might help amuse Ozma's guests, and Dorothy agrees to ask Ozma to invite him in exchange for supper, beds, and an early start.
When Kik-a-bray offers bran mash or ripe oats, then hay or grass, Dorothy explains they are not donkeys and need other food. Each traveler requests a different food—the shaggy man apples and a ham sandwich (retaining his own stomach despite the donkey head), Button-Bright pie, Dorothy beefsteak and chocolate layer-cake, and Polychrome dewdrops and mist-cakes. The King marvels at how queer all creatures except donkeys are, then waves his Magic Staff, instantly producing a tea-table set with linen and dishes bearing exactly the wished-for foods; lacking chairs, all stand and eat heartily, Polychrome finding three tiny dewdrops on a crystal plate and Button-Bright a big slice of apple pie.
The King's favorite brown servant-donkey leads the guests to a vacant one-room house furnished only with clean straw beds and grass mats, where they sleep comfortably until morning. At daybreak a dreadful noise fills the city as every donkey brays; the shaggy man wakes and brays 'Hee-haw!' as loud as he can, drawing Button-Bright's cross rebuke and reproachful looks from Dorothy and Polly, though he apologizes and is forgiven, the Love Magnet obliging them all to love him. A table reappears with the same food as the night before; Button-Bright refuses pie for breakfast and accepts Dorothy's beefsteak, the shaggy man eats his apples and sandwiches (and then Button-Bright's pie), and Polly enjoys her dewdrops and mist-cakes, while Toto eats beefsteak scraps standing on his hind legs. After breakfast the brown servant-donkey guides them through the maze of houses to the opposite side of the village, delivering King Kik-a-bray's reminder about the invitation, which Dorothy promises to honor. The strangely assorted group—Polychrome dancing ahead in her gauzy rainbow robes, Toto alternately running after her and trotting at Dorothy's heels, Dorothy holding the fox-headed Button-Bright's hand, and the shaggy man shuffling behind with his shaggy donkey head—walks along the road through green fields and groves of pepper-trees and mimosa; none is really unhappy, all interested in their fairy adventure and curious what will happen next.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Ozma
- Polychrome
- the Shaggy Man
- Button-Bright
- the Love Magnet
- Dunkiton
- Dunkiton Donkeys
- Foxville
- Kansas
- Land of Oz
- Magic Staff
- Ozma's Birthday Celebration
- road_to_oz_traveling_party
- Toto
- King Kik-a-bray