The Oz Series
Chapter 99
Part of the The Road to Oz: The Shaggy Man's Journey to Ozma's Birthday arc.
What happens
The shaggy man, uninjured after being struck on the breast and left shoulder by two thrown Scoodler heads, rises and urges his companions forward. The Scoodlers respond by hurling their detachable heads in great numbers, knocking down the shaggy man and Button-Bright, the latter howling though unhurt. One head strikes Toto, who seizes it by the ear and runs off with it; the headless Scoodler, unable to see its body because the dog blocks its eyes, stumbles over the rocks, and when Toto tries to roll the head down the hill, other Scoodlers pelt him with their own heads until he drops his burden and returns to Dorothy. Dorothy and the Rainbow's Daughter (Polychrome, called Polly) escape the head-shower but realize flight is useless. The shaggy man declares they must submit, and the Scoodlers—creatures with two faces, two front sides, and T-shaped feet allowing them to walk in either direction—surround the captives.
The Scoodlers lead the prisoners down a side path to a rock mountain shaped like an inverted bowl, beside a bottomless black gulf spanned by a narrow rock bridge leading to an arched opening. Inside the immense hollow dome, lit by holes in the roof, stand rows of narrow rock houses (none more than six feet wide, suited to the thin Scoodlers) around a central hall containing a huge iron kettle—the Soup Kettle—suspended over a heap of kindling. The Scoodlers announce they are hungry and intend to make the captives into soup. Button-Bright cries, protesting he does not want to be soup, and the shaggy man consolingly offers to be put in the kettle first because he is big enough to feed them all.
The captives are brought before the Queen of the Scoodlers, whose two sides are fiery red (with black hair and green eyes) and bright yellow (with crimson hair and black eyes), and who wears a dented silver crown battered by repeated head-throwing. When asked whether she is beautiful, the shaggy man notes the Love Magnet makes all who meet him love him and his friends; the Queen admits they love the captives enough to eat their broth with pleasure. Button-Bright calls her ugly, Dorothy calls her a fright, and Polly says she would be scared to see herself. Angered, the Queen orders the guards to run the prisoners through the meat chopper at six o'clock, start the soup kettle boiling, and add salt, onions, garlic, and red pepper.
The captives are locked in a storehouse containing bags of potatoes and baskets of carrots, onions, and turnips used to flavor soup, with a single Scoodler standing guard. The shaggy man resolves to fight for their lives rather than submit. He whispers a plan to Polychrome, who nods, and secretly empties potatoes from a sack while Dorothy and Button-Bright screen him. Polychrome dances near the guard, slaps his face, and whirls away; the enraged guard throws his head at her, but the shaggy man catches it and ties it inside the sack. The headless guard's body runs aimlessly, and the shaggy man opens the door.
Finding the great cave empty, the shaggy man sends Dorothy (carrying Toto and holding Polly's hand) and Polly running for the entrance and the bridge, while he carries Button-Bright on his shoulders. Their unexpected escape nearly reaches the bridge before a Scoodler spots them and raises an alarm that brings all the others out to give chase. Dorothy and Polly cross the bridge as the Scoodlers begin throwing heads; one strikes the shaggy man's back and nearly topples him, but he sets Button-Bright down at the cave mouth and tells the boy to run across to Dorothy.
Standing just outside the opening, the shaggy man catches every head thrown at him and tosses them into the black gulf, including the Queen's crimson-and-yellow head. Once every Scoodler has thrown its head into the gulf, their helpless bodies wriggle about the cave searching for their tops. The shaggy man, noting his childhood baseball training let him catch all the heads, crosses the bridge to rejoin his companions and assures the still-frightened Button-Bright that the Scoodlers can no longer make soup and will bother no one again. The group hastens up the hillside and regains the road just beyond where they first met the Scoodlers.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Polychrome
- the Shaggy Man
- Button-Bright
- Scoodlers
- the Love Magnet
- Queen of the Scoodlers
- road_to_oz_traveling_party
- Toto
- the Scoodlers' cave