"You are my prisoner, and it is
useless for you to struggle any longer," said Glinda, in her soft, sweet
voice. "Lie still a moment, and rest yourself, and then I will carry you
back to my tent."
"Why do you seek me?" asked Mombi,
still scarce able to speak plainly for lack of breath. "What have I done
to you, to be so persecuted?"
"You have done nothing to me,"
answered the gentle Sorceress; "but I suspect you have been guilty of
several wicked actions; and if I find it is true that you have so abused
your knowledge of magic, I intend to punish you severely."
"I defy you!" croaked the old hag.
"You dare not harm me!"
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Just then the Gump flew up
to them and alighted upon the desert sands beside Glinda. Our
friends were delighted to find that Mombi had finally been
captured, and after a hurried consultation it was decided they
should all return to the camp in the Gump. So the Saw-Horse was
tossed aboard, and then Glinda still holding an end of the
golden thread that was around Mombi's neck, forced her prisoner
to climb into the sofas. The others now followed, and Tip gave
the word to the Gump to return.
The Journey was made in
safety, Mombi sitting in her place with a grim and sullen air;
for the old hag was absolutely helpless so long as the magical
thread encircled her throat. The army hailed Glinda's return
with loud cheers, and the party of friends soon gathered again
in the royal tent, which had been neatly repaired during their
absence.
"Now," said the Sorceress
to Mombi, "I want you to tell us why the Wonderful Wizard of Oz
paid you three visits, and what became of the child, Ozma, which
so curiously disappeared."
The Witch looked at Glinda
defiantly, but said not a word.
"Answer me!" cried the
Sorceress.
But still Mombi remained
silent.
"Perhaps she doesn't
know," remarked Jack.
"I beg you will keep
quiet," said Tip. "You might spoil everything with your
foolishness."
"Very well, dear father!"
returned the Pumpkinhead, meekly.
"How glad I am to be a
Woggle-Bug!" murmured the Highly Magnified Insect, softly. "No
one can expect wisdom to flow from a pumpkin."
"Well," said the
Scarecrow, "what shall we do to make Mombi speak? Unless she
tells us what we wish to know her capture will do us no good at
all."
"Suppose we try kindness,"
suggested the Tin Woodman. "I've heard that anyone can be
conquered with kindness, no matter how ugly they may be."
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|
At this the Witch turned to glare upon
him so horribly that the Tin Woodman shrank back abashed.
Glinda had been carefully considering
what to do, and now she turned to Mombi and said:
"You will gain nothing, I assure you,
by thus defying us. For I am determined to learn the truth about the girl
Ozma, and unless you tell me all that you know, I will certainly put you to
death."
"Oh, no! Don't do that!" exclaimed the
Tin Woodman. "It would be an awful thing to kill anyone -- even old Mombi!"
"But it is merely a threat," returned
Glinda. "I shall not put Mombi to death, because she will prefer to tell me
the truth."
"Oh, I see!" said the tin man, much
relieved.
"Suppose I tell you all that you wish
to know,". said Mombi, speaking so suddenly that she startled them all.
"What will you do with me then?"
"In that case," replied Glinda, "I
shall merely ask you to drink a powerful draught which will cause you to
forget all the magic you have ever learned."
"Then I would become a helpless old
woman!"
"But you would be alive," suggested
the Pumpkinhead, consolingly.
"Do try to keep silent!" said Tip,
nervously.
"I'll try," responded Jack; "but you
will admit that it's a good thing to be alive."
"Especially if one happens to be
Thoroughly Educated," added the Woggle-Bug, nodding approval.
"You may make your choice," Glinda
said to old Mombi, "between death if you remain silent, and the loss of your
magical powers if you tell me the truth. But I think you will prefer to
live.
Mombi cast an uneasy glance at the
Sorceress, and saw that she was in earnest, and not to be trifled with. So
she replied, slowly:
"I will answer your questions."
"That is what I expected," said
Glinda, pleasantly. "You have chosen wisely, I assure you."
She then motioned to one of her
Captains, who brought her a beautiful golden casket. From this the Sorceress
drew an immense white pearl, attached to a slender chain which she placed
around her neck in such a way that the pearl rested upon her bosom, directly
over her heart.
"Now," said she, "I will ask my first
question: Why did the Wizard pay you three visits?"
"Because I would not come to him,"
answered Mombi.
"That is no answer," said Glinda,
sternly. "Tell me the truth."
"Well," returned Mombi, with downcast
eyes, "he visited me to learn the way I make tea-biscuits."
"Look up!" commanded the Sorceress.
Mombi obeyed.
"What is the color of my pearl?"
demanded Glinda.
"Why -- it is black!" replied the old
Witch, in a tone of wonder.
"Then you have told me a falsehood!"
cried Glinda, angrily. "Only when the truth is spoken will my magic pearl
remain a pure white in color."
Mombi now saw how useless it was to
try to deceive the Sorceress; so she said, meanwhile scowling at her defeat:
"The Wizard brought to me the girl
Ozma, who was then no more than a baby, and begged me to conceal the child."
"That is what I thought," declared
Glinda, calmly. "What did he give you for thus serving him?"
"He taught me all the magical tricks
he knew. Some were good tricks, and some were only frauds; but I have
remained faithful to my promise."
"What did you do with the girl?" asked
Glinda; and at this question everyone bent forward and listened eagerly for
the reply.
"I enchanted her," answered Mombi.
"In what way?"
"I transformed her into -- into -- "
"Into what?" demanded Glinda, as the
Witch hesitated.
"Into a boy!" said Mombi, in a low
tone."
A boy!" echoed every voice; and then,
because they knew that this old woman had reared Tip from childhood, all
eyes were turned to where the boy stood.
"Yes," said the old Witch, nodding her
head; "that is the Princess Ozma -- the child brought to me by the Wizard
who stole her father's throne. That is the rightful ruler of the Emerald
City!" and she pointed her long bony finger straight at the boy.
"I!" cried Tip, in amazement. "Why,
I'm no Princess Ozma -- I'm not a girl!"
Glinda smiled, and going to Tip she
took his small brown hand within her dainty white one.
"You are not a girl just now" said
she, gently, "because Mombi transformed you into a boy. But you were born a
girl, and also a Princess; so you must resume your proper form, that you may
become Queen of the Emerald City."
"Oh, let Jinjur be the Queen!"
exclaimed Tip, ready to cry. "I want to stay a boy, and travel with the
Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, and the Woggle-Bug, and Jack -- yes! and my
friend the Saw-Horse -- and the Gump! I don't want to be a girl!"
"Never mind, old chap," said the Tin
Woodman, soothingly; "it don't hurt to be a girl, I'm told; and we will all
remain your faithful friends just the same. And, to be honest with you, I've
always considered girls nicer than boys."
"They're just as nice, anyway," added
the Scarecrow, patting Tip affectionately upon the head.
"And they are equally good students,"
proclaimed the Woggle-Bug. "I should like to become your tutor, when you are
transformed into a girl again."
"But -- see here!" said Jack
Pumpkinhead, with a gasp: "if you become a girl, you can't be my dear father
any more!"
"No," answered Tip, laughing in spite
of his anxiety. "and I shall not be sorry to escape the relationship." Then
he added, hesitatingly, as he turned to Glinda: "I might try it for
awhile,-just to see how it seems, you know. But if I don't like being a girl
you must promise to change me into a boy again."
"Really," said the Sorceress, "that is
beyond my magic. I never deal in transformations, for they are not honest,
and no respectable sorceress likes to make things appear to be what they are
not. Only unscrupulous witches use the art, and therefore I must ask Mombi
to effect your release from her charm, and restore you to your proper form.
It will be the last opportunity she will have to practice magic."
Now that the truth about Princes Ozma
had been discovered, Mombi did not care what became of Tip; but she feared
Glinda's anger, and the boy generously promised to provide for Mombi in her
old age if he became the ruler of the Emerald City. So the Witch consented
to effect the transformation, and preparations for the event were at once
made.
Glinda ordered her own royal couch to
be placed in the center of the tent. It was piled high with cushions covered
with rose-colored silk, and from a golden railing above hung many folds of
pink gossamer, completely concealing the interior of the couch.
The first act of the Witch was to make
the boy drink a potion which quickly sent him into a deep and dreamless
sleep. Then the Tin Woodman and the Woggle-Bug bore him gently to the couch,
placed him upon the soft cushions, and drew the gossamer hangings to shut
him from all earthly view.
The Witch squatted upon the ground and
kindled a tiny fire of dried herbs, which she drew from her bosom. When the
blaze shot up and burned clearly old Mombi scattered a handful of magical
powder over the fire, which straightway gave off a rich violet vapor,
filling all the tent with its fragrance and forcing the Saw-Horse to sneeze
-- although he had been warned to keep quiet.
Then, while the others watched her
curiously, the hag chanted a rhythmical verse in words which no one
understood, and bent her lean body seven times back and forth over the fire.
And now the incantation seemed complete, for the Witch stood upright and
cried the one word "Yeowa!" in a loud voice.
The vapor floated away; the atmosphere
became, clear again; a whiff of fresh air filled the tent, and the pink
curtains of the couch trembled slightly, as if stirred from within.
Glinda walked to the canopy and parted
the silken hangings. Then she bent over the cushions, reached out her hand,
and from the couch arose the form of a young girl, fresh and beautiful as a
May morning. Her eyes sparkled as two diamonds, and her lips were tinted
like a tourmaline. All adown her back floated tresses of ruddy gold, with a
slender jeweled circlet confining them at the brow. Her robes of silken
gauze floated around her like a cloud, and dainty satin slippers shod her
feet.
At this exquisite vision Tip's old
comrades stared in wonder for the space of a full minute, and then every
head bent low in honest admiration of the lovely Princess Ozma. The girl
herself cast one look into Glinda's bright face, which glowed with pleasure
and satisfaction, and then turned upon the others. Speaking the words with
sweet diffidence, she said:
"I hope none of you will care less for
me than you did before. I'm just the same Tip, you know; only -- only -- "
"Only you're different!" said the
Pumpkinhead; and everyone thought it was the wisest speech he had ever made.
Last chapter...
( The Riches of Content)
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