Species in The Oz Series
the fighting trees
Also known as the policemen of the forest, the first row of trees.
The first row of trees at the edge of a thick wood on the road south, given a wonderful power to bend down their wide-spreading branches, seize strangers, and fling them back to keep them out of the forest; the party names them 'the policemen of the forest.' Only this first row has the power, and the Tin Woodman's axe can wound them.
Appears in 1 chapters, first in chapter 19, last in chapter 19.
This encyclopedia covers chapters 1 to 100 of the story and shows the world as it stands at chapter 100, so it contains spoilers up to that point. To read it spoiler free, one chapter at a time, open the interactive codex.
What the story establishes
| Cultural norms | Act as guardians ('policemen') of the forest, using their power to keep strangers from entering it. (as of ch. 19) |
| Habitat | The first row of a thick wood that lies across the road south of the Emerald City. (as of ch. 19) |
| Innate traits | Can bend down their wide-spreading branches to twine around, seize, lift, and fling away a stranger who tries to pass, and can catch and shake a small creature; they shake all their branches as if in pain when a branch is chopped. Only the first row of the wood's trees has this power. (as of ch. 19) |
Relationships
- threatens → Dorothy's Traveling Party (ended) ch. 19The first row of trees in the wood bend down their branches to seize the travelers and fling them back, fighting to stop the party's journey and keep strangers out of the forest.
- injures ← Tin Woodman (ended) ch. 19The Tin Woodman chops a seizing branch clean in two with his axe, and the tree shakes all its branches as if in pain, letting the party pass under it (severity: a branch severed, the tree hurt but not destroyed).
- threatens → Scarecrow (ended) ch. 19The first tree bends its branches down to twine around the Scarecrow, lift him from the ground, and fling him headlong back among his companions; a second tree seizes and tosses him back again when he tries once more.
- threatens → Toto (ended) ch. 19As the party runs under the tree, a small branch catches Toto and shakes him until he howls.
From the text
“The trees seem to have made up their minds to fight us, and stop our journey.”Chapter 19
See the fighting trees chapter by chapter in the interactive codex →