英语小说网

In all the world, there is no country or township known that can ever compare against the beauty and magnitude of the Marvelous Land of Oz. This is not a debatable issue. The Land of Oz is not only beautiful with the glittering gemstones that are found commonplace in this remarkable fairyland, but its enchantment goes ever farther. In all the territory of Oz, there is clean, fresh air and gorgeous trees and scenery. There is peace and quiet when such is desired, and there is high adventure and excitement at other times. In Oz, no one ever grows older than he chooses, and death is practically unheard of. The country is situated in the center of a vast continent, and is surrounded by an impassable Deadly Desert.

Although the vast Deadly Desert Around Oz aptly prevents tourism from abroad, those who are fortunate enough to live on the proper side of this sandy enigma will surely testify that the land is as no other.

The country itself is divided into five distinct regions. The most important of these is the Emerald City. This famous area lies in the exact center of the oblong land, and is home to the supreme ruler over Oz. Her name is Ozma, and she is but a tiny child. Even so, no other ruler in any other country has ever been more respected, loved, or envied. To the south of Ozma's remarkable palace is the Quadling Country. This is ruled over by a powerful Witch named Glinda the Good. In the Quadling Country, red is the favored color, and most of the buildings, walls and furniture are distinctly red in hue. To the west lies the Winkie Country, which is a land where everything is bright and yellow-colored. To the north is the purple Gillikin territory, and to the east live the Munchkins. Among these little people, blue was clearly the color of preference.

It is to this easternmost region that I wish to direct your attention.
It was in the blue Munchkin Country of Oz that a house happened to fall
from the sky and land with a loud crash atop a most unfortunate Wicked
Witch.

Now although this particular Wicked Witch was about as repugnant as they come, and her evil doings had brought more misery to more people than can possibly be recorded in these few pages, it was still rather sad to see her wicked legacy brought to such an abrupt close. Especially as the particular house that happened to squish her was one which belonged to a tiny little girl named Dorothy Gale. To think that a mere toddler could bring an end to the story of the Wicked Witch of the East!

But the story did not exactly end there. It seems that, before such time as the old woman's liveliness was shmushed by little Dorothy's home, she had left a little souvenir to remember her by. Actually, it was quite a large souvenir!

She and her equally-vile sister Allidap, the Wicked Witch of the West, had created the souvenir to do battle with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz himself. Had it not been for the Wizard's powerful magic charms, he may well have been defeated. But thanks to his magic, the Wizard of Oz was able to thwart the attacks of the Witches and banish their souvenir to a forest that lay in the southern land of the Quadlings. But fearing the Witches may try to attack him again, the Wizard hid himself away in the glorious Emerald City and became a hermit.

Then, one day, Dorothy's house came down and whumped out the Wicked Witch of the East. This, needless to say, was not a healthy situation for the Wicked Witch. Little Dorothy was advised in the Munchkin Country to head for the central city and seek out the reclusive old Wizard, being told that he alone could help her to get home to Kansas.

It was a long and difficult journey, but the child was equal to the challenge. Along the way, she chanced to meet up with the Cowardly Lion. He was a formerly respected leader of the Animal Kingdom, but this particular lion had fallen into disgrace due to his outlandishly unkinglike cowardice. He and the little girl became fast friends, and they journeyed together in search of Oz and, later on, Glinda the Good. It was on their journey to locate Glinda the Good that they happened to stray into the very forest where the Witches' souvenir was staying. As they walked through the vast forest, a large and tawny tiger approached the Cowardly Lion and bowed subjectively before him.

"Welcome, O King of Beasts!" quoth the tiger. "You have come in good time to fight our enemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forest once more."

"What is your trouble?" asked the Cowardly Lion in a quiet voice.

"We are all threatened," answered the tiger, "by a fierce enemy which has lately come into this forest. It is a most tremendous Monster, like a great spider, with a body as big as an elephant and legs as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of these long legs, and as the Monster crawls through the forest he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it to his mouth, where he eats it as a spider does a fly. Not one of us is safe while this fierce creature is alive, and we had called a meeting to decide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us."

The Cowardly Lion thought over the situation carefully.

"Are there any other lions in this forest?" he enquired.

"No; there were some, but the Monster has eaten them all. And, besides, they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you."

The Lion got an idea that he hoped would help him overcome his disgrace.

"If I put an end to your enemy," he began, "will you bow down to me and obey me as King of the Forest?"

"We will do that gladly," returned the big tiger. The rest of the forest animals voiced assent.

"Where is this great spider of yours now?" asked the Cowardly Lion bravely.

"Yonder," said the tiger, indicating with a tawny paw, "among the oak trees."

The Cowardly Lion overcame his fear and ignored the trepidation within his heart. He came upon the Forest Monster shortly thereafter. Even though it was sound asleep, it was the most ghastly sight that the Cowardly Lion had ever laid eyes on. It was huge, black and furry. It was filthy, too. Its putrid smell had the Lion reeling in spite of himself. But he pressed onward. The snores of the ugly Monster revealed its razor-sharp fangs which measured in at at least a foot long. Its powerful legs were as muscular as those of a Hercules and were as big around as a house and as long as the trunk of a tree. The claws on the end of its eight enormous legs were curved and as sharp as scimitars. It was quite the sort of thing that nightmares are made of.

But the Cowardly Lion noticed that the Forest Monster had one weakness. He was observant enough to notice that, though the spider was so much larger than any other spider he had ever seen, its neck was as slender as a wasp's waist. Given this obvious oversight on the part of the Wicked Witches who had designed him, the Forest Monster suddenly seemed less Monstrous to the Cowardly Lion. With a leap and a single blow of his mighty paw, he knocked the Forest Monster's head clean off! He then watched the writhing body until its legs stopped wiggling and he knew that it was quite dead.

[Illustration: "With a leap and a single blow of his mighty paw, he knocked the Forest Monster's head clean off!"]