Where we last left off, Dorothy had just killed the Wicked Witch of the West. She tells the Winkies that they are no longer the Wicked Witch's slaves, and they are, as you can imagine, very happy. Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion would be happy too, but first they must rescue the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman.
So they called the yellow Winkies and asked them if they would help rescue their friends, and the Winkies said that they would be delighted to do all in their power for Dorothy, who had set them free from bondage. So she chose a number of the Winkies who looked as if they knew the most, and they all started away.
I find it curious that the Winkies are said to be yellow. Does that mean they have yellow skins, or do they just wear yellow clothes? It's also very interesting when you compare this to their appearance in the movie - ornate gray uniforms with red trim, a Russian-style gray fur hat, and greenish skin and hooked nose much like the Wicked Witch herself. I'd be very interested to learn more about how the costumes were designed for the entire movie, for that matter. The Wizard of Oz was amazing partly for the visuals and the unique appearance of its inhabitants, and the costume choices for everyone from the main characters down to the many extras were obviously made with great care.
I've just recently discovered Tonner dolls, and on their Wizard of Oz page you can find not only dolls of the classic characters and chorus, but there are also some beautiful artistic takes on new costume ideas, including ballet dancer Dorothy, Glinda, and the Wicked Witch, lady Winkie in business dress, and a speculative look at what the Wicked Witch of the East might have looked like. These are all absolutely beautiful!
But of course I'm getting off track. Back to the book! Dorothy and her followers find the Tin Woodman in the rocky plain where he was tossed, and the Winkies take him back to the yellow castle to fix him up. Dorothy discovers that several of the Winkies are very good tinsmiths, so she asks them to fix the Tin Woodman's dents, straighten his bent parts, and solder his broken parts.
The tinsmiths looked the Woodman over carefully and then answered that they thought they could mend him so he would be as good as ever. So they set to work in one of the big yellow rooms of the castle and worked for three days and four nights, hammering and twisting and bending and soldering and polishing and pounding at the legs and body and head of the Tin Woodman, until at least he was straightened out to his old form, and his joints worked as well as ever.
I quote this passage to point out the way that Baum lingers over detail and the way he uses repetition - sometimes needlessly - to create a poetic style of writing that sounds very much like a classic fairy tale. The "three days and four nights" wording only adds to this, as so many fairy tales and legends make use of this structure to describe the passage of time. For that matter, consider the 40 days and 40 nights that it rained on Noah in the ark! This is the kind of thing that sets The Wizard of Oz apart as a story, not just a series of events, and the quintessential American fantasy to boot.
There is a tearfully joyful reunion when the Tin Woodman is repaired, and they set out to find the Scarecrow next. After rescuing his head and his clothes, they have the Winkies restuff him with fresh straw. After a few days of enjoying the Winkies' hospitality, the party sets out for the Emerald City once more, laden with gifts (the Winkies have a thing for gold, unsurprisingly). The Winkies even want the Tin Woodman to remain and be their king, but he declines and chooses to continue his journey with Dorothy.
Since they were captured by the Wicked Witch and flown to the Yellow Castle, it turns out that none of them are quite sure how to get back to the Emerald City, so they find themselves lost for days on end. Eventually they think to call the queen of the field-mice using the whistle she gave them. Either they were very close to her field, or she has magical powers of teleportation, because she turns up within minutes, accompanied by a number of other mice. The mouse-queen informs them that they've been walking in the opposite direction and are even farther from the Emerald City than when they left. However, it turns out that while Dorothy was gathering supplies for the journey, she found the Wicked Witch's Golden Cap and decided to take it along, since it fit her perfectly. The mouse-queen tells her that if she recites the charm written inside the cap, the Winged Monkeys will come and obey her command. The mice leave, and Dorothy does as she was advised. The Winged Monkeys are happy to carry the companions to the Emerald City, and during the long flight, the leader of the monkeys tells Dorothy the story of how they came to be bound to serve the owner of the Golden Cap. It's an amusing story, one that I won't spoil for you if you plan on reading the book yourself, but there is a character in it named Gayelette, a sorceress and princess of the North. Later in the series we learn that a sorceress is not exactly the same as a witch, and there is only one witch in each of the four lands. Given that we've already met the Good Witch of the North, we know this is not the same person, but it's possible that the characters are later combined - this is something Baum often does in his books, retroactively changing the history of Oz to match his most current vision for the story. I'll have to come back to this when I've had a chance to reread more of the series and remind myself of details, but somehow I suspect that Gayelette may be mentioned as the Good Witch of the North later on. We'll have to see!
The journey doesn't take long, and the Winged Monkeys deposit them outside the gates to the Emerald City before flying away. The Guardian of the Gates is shocked to see them, not expecting them to have returned alive from the Wicked Witch's castle. Word spreads quickly, and a crowd soon follows them to the Wizard's castle once they hear that Dorothy has melted the Wicked Witch. They are given rooms to stay in again at the palace, but the Wizard never summons them, so after a few days the Scarecrow sends a message to the Wizard that if he will not see them, they will call the Winged Monkeys down upon him. This gets a quick response, and the next morning they are all taken to the throne room. Although each of them had seen the Wizard in a different form the last time, they now see only an empty throne and hear a booming voice. They tell the Wizard that they've done what he asked and want him to fulfill his promises, and he seems very surprised and nervous.
"Dear me," said the Voice, "how sudden! Well, come to me to-morrow, for I must have time to think it over."
"You've had plenty of time already," said the Tin Woodman, angrily.
"We shan't wait a day longer," said the Scarecrow.
The Lion thought it might be as well to frighten the Wizard, so he gave a large, loud roar, which was so fierce and dreadful that Toto jumped away from him in alarm and tipped over the screen that stood in the corner. As it fell with a crash they looked that way, and the next moment all of them were filled with wonder. For they saw, standing in just the spot the screen had hidden, a little, old man, with a bald head and a wrinkled face, who seemed to be as much surprised as they were. The Tin Woodman, raising his axe, rushed toward the little man and cried out,
"Who are you?"
"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible," said the little man, in a trembling voice, "but don't strike me—please don't!—and I'll do anything you want me to."
As you can see, this scene is almost exactly like the movie! The Wizard explains that no one has ever seen him and his subjects all believe him to be something very terrible, but in fact the gigantic head was made of papier-mâché, the lovely lady was simply a dress and a mask, the great beast was a lot of skins sewn together, and the ball of fire was a ball of cotton with oil poured over and set alight. For those tricks that were not costumes, the Wizard threw his voice, as he is apparently an accomplished ventriloquist.
Given the descriptions of these things earlier in the book, I have a very hard time believing that such modest effects would be so believable to Dorothy and her friends. Even if she is a little girl, she's a very savvy and wise little girl, as we see throughout the series. So I think the Wizard's deceptions were much better than they sound, and he is a really excellent stage magician, which seems to be true given what we learn about him as the story goes on. Apparently his tricks are so realistic that he might as well be a real magician. He tells his story, which is pretty much the same as it is in the movie - he was from Omaha and was trained as a master ventriloquist, and later became a balloonist for the circus. When he was accidentally whisked away to Oz, the inhabitants thought he was a Wizard, and he did not disabuse them of the notion.
"Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them to build this City, and my palace; and they did it all willingly and well. Then I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I would call it the Emerald City, and to make the name fit better I put green spectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green."
"But isn't everything here green?" asked Dorothy.
"No more than in any other city," replied Oz, "but when you wear green spectacles, why of course everything you see looks green to you. The Emerald City was built a great many years ago, for I was a young man when the balloon brought me here, and I am a very old man now. But my people have worn green glasses on their eyes so long that most of them think it really is an Emerald City, and it certainly is a beautiful place, abounding in jewels and precious metals, and every good thing that is needed to make one happy."
I do wonder why the Wizard felt that the spectacles were necessary, given that he admits there are plenty of jewels in the city and it is a beautiful place. In fact, in the next book they describe the city as being studded with emeralds, with giant emeralds embedded in the paths. I think the idea we are supposed to take away here might be that it's kind of silly to try to dress up something that is naturally beautiful, but who knows? I will say that I find it hard to believe that the people of the Emerald City are so naive and credulous, yet clever and skilled enough to build such a beautiful city. Part of me wonders if they were just humoring the kindly man all this time!
It's clear that the Wizard, although not a bad person, was definitely a coward. He was terribly afraid of the witches, which is why he told Dorothy to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, but he never really expected her to succeed. He reluctantly agrees to give each of them what they asked for if they come back the next day, although he insists that the Scarecrow doesn't need brains, only experience; the Tin Woodman doesn't need a heart because hearts make people unhappy; and the Cowardly Lion doesn't need courage, only confidence. He doesn't actually say that he's unable to give them what they asked for, although it seems as if they should be able to figure that out, given that he can't actually do magic.
In the movie, the Wizard gives each of them something that is more or less a symbol of what they desired but already had—a diploma for the Scarecrow, a pocket watch heart for the Tin Woodman, and a medal for the Cowardly Lion. In the book, he gives them actual brains, a heart, and courage—or at least placebos. Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever know for sure if his gifts really worked! They certainly seem to, but then again, each character has shown that they already have the very thing they thought they needed. For the Scarecrow, the Wizard fills his head with a mixture of bran, pins, and needles, then sews it up again. He tells the Scarecrow that "I have given you a lot of bran-new brains" and that the pins and needles are "proof that he is sharp." (Baum was very fond of really bad puns.) The Tin Woodman gets a heart made of silk and stuffed with sawdust, and the Lion drinks from a bottle he provides, though we never find out what exactly is in it. When asked, the Wizard merely tells him that it is courage, or will be once he drinks it. He tells Dorothy that he will take her home in his balloon.
Things happen exactly as you might expect—the Wizard makes his farewell speech and makes the Scarecrow king in his absence, and then cuts the lines to float away, but Toto runs after a cat, and when Dorothy goes to catch him, the balloon leaves without her. Things don't turn out as neatly as they do in the movie, however, and Glinda does not suddenly appear to sort everything out. Instead, they spend several days in the Emerald City before finally thinking of an idea while sitting in the throne room together. Dorothy calls the Winged Monkeys to carry her back to Kansas, but they tell her that as magic creatures, they can't leave Oz. They ask advice of the palace's guard, the soldier with the green whiskers, who advises that they ask Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, who lives in the land of the Quadlings, on the edge of the desert at the southern border. Unfortunately, it is a long and dangerous journey—certainly not as simple as the movie makes it! Of course Dorothy's friends insist on accompanying her, so they prepare for their final journey of the book.
Join me next time, and we'll wrap up with the final chapters of The Wizard of Oz!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment