The Oz Series
Chapter 97
Part of the The Road to Oz: The Shaggy Man's Journey to Ozma's Birthday arc.
What happens
About mid-morning the travelers ascend a long hill that suddenly drops into a pretty valley where they spot a small house by the roadside—the first house they have seen—and hasten toward it. No one is in sight, but as they approach they hear queer sounds like wheezy hand-organ music: 'Tiddle-widdle-iddle oom pom-pom!' Dorothy wonders whether it is a band or mouth-organ, the shaggy man likens it to a played-out phonograph, and Polychrome tries to dance to the strains. Drawing nearer, they see a little fat man sitting on a bench before the door, wearing a red braided jacket, blue waistcoat, gold-striped white trousers, a small round red cap held by an elastic under his chin, and white cotton gloves, leaning on a stout gold-headed cane. Strangely, the musical sounds come from inside the man himself, though he plays no instrument and none is visible.
When Button-Bright declares he is a 'reg'lar musicker,' the fat man sits up as if complimented. The shaggy man cries out for the dreadful noise to stop, and the fat man replies in sing-song verse that it is not noise but music, harmonic and clear, produced by his breath, which makes him play like an organ all day, with a bass note in his left ear. He further sings that his lungs are full of reeds like those in organs, so that as he breathes to live he squeezes out music, apologizing for his piping. Polychrome pities him, and the shaggy man observes that the poor fellow must listen to himself as long as he lives, enough to drive him crazy, and suggests this is why he lives alone, since neighbors might injure him.
Asked who he is, the musicker sings that he is Allegro da Capo, a very famous man, challenging anyone to match him, and boasting he has been musical always since his life began. Dorothy remarks he seems proud of it and that she has heard worse music. Pleased by the praise, the musicker sings a verse claiming he wears no band yet is a band, that his 'toot' is free of flats or errors, and that to 'see sharp and be natural' are only minor terrors for him. Polychrome does not fully understand, saying she is accustomed only to the music of the spheres, which Dorothy mistakenly explains as the atmosphere and hemisphere.
As the constant 'Oom, pom-pom' jars the shaggy man's nerves, he angrily demands the musicker stop, breathe in a whisper, or put a clothes-pin on his nose; the musicker sings that music hath charms to soothe even the savage, so if the shaggy man feels savage he should listen to the reel. The shaggy man laughs, stretching his donkey mouth wide. Button-Bright, staring hard, asks what he would be if he swallowed a mouth-organ, and the shaggy man answers 'an organette,' then urges departure before Button-Bright swallows anything, reminding them they must find the Land of Oz. The musicker quickly sings a request to be taken to the Land of Oz so he may play the loveliest song on Ozma's birthday, but Dorothy declines, saying they prefer to travel alone though she will tell Ozma he wants to come.
Polly is already dancing far ahead, and the others follow. Toto, disliking the musicker, grabs for his chubby leg, so Dorothy catches up the growling dog and hurries after her companions, who walk faster than usual to escape the sound. Climbing a hill, they cannot escape the monotonous piping until they pass the brow and descend the other side, where the sounds gradually die away and all feel relieved. Dorothy expresses gladness she does not have to live with the organ-man, Polychrome agrees, and Button-Bright soberly declares the musicker 'nice.' The shaggy man hopes Ozma will not invite him because his music would drive the guests crazy, and, taking Button-Bright's earlier remark as an idea, suggests the musicker must have swallowed an accordion in his youth; Dorothy explains an accordion is a kind of pleating, and Toto runs off at a mad gallop to chase a bumble-bee.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Ozma
- Polychrome
- the Shaggy Man
- Button-Bright
- Land of Oz
- Ozma's Birthday Celebration
- road_to_oz_traveling_party
- Toto
- Allegro da Capo