The Marvellous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Title: The Marvellous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman.
Author: L. Frank Baum.
Genre: Literature, fiction, children's lit, YA, fantasy, adventure.
Country: U.S.
Language: English
Publication Date: 1904.
Summary: The story of the wonderful adventures of the young boy named Tip as he travels throughout the many lands of Oz. Here he meets with our old friends the now-King Scarecrow and now-Emperor Tin Woodman, as well as some new friends like Jack Pumpkinhead, the Wooden Sawhorse, the Highly Magnified (and Thoroughly Educated) Wogglebug, and the amazing Gump (head of a Gump, body of a two sofas, wings of palm leaves, and a broom for a tail), and gets tangled up in political intrigue when General Jinjur's all-girl Army of Revolt take over the rulership of the City of Oz. It is only with bravery, and the help of good friends and Glinda, that the friends can restore the rightful ruler to the throne of Oz.
My rating: 7.5/10.
My review:
♥ Even Mombi was not without a curious interest in the man her magic had brought to life, for after staring at him intently she asked, "What do you know?"
"Well, that is hard to tell," replied Jack. "For although I feel that I know a tremendous lot, I am not yet aware how much there is in the world to find out about. It will take me a little time to discover whether I am very wise or very foolish."
♥ "Now, that is very interesting history," said Jack, well pleased; "and I understand it perfectly-all but the explanation."
♥ "I beg Your Majesty's pardon," returned the Pumpkinhead, "but I do not understand you."
"What don't you understand?" asked the Scarecrow.
"Why, I don't understand your language. You see, I came from the Country of the Gillikins, so that I am a foreigner."
"Ah, to be sure!" exclaimed the Scarecrow. "I myself speak the language of the Munchkins, which is also the language of the Emerald City. But you, I suppose, speak the language of the Pumpkinheads?"
"Exactly so, Your Majesty," replied the other, bowing; "so it will be impossible for us to understand one another."
... "Won't you take a chair while we are waiting?"
"Your Majesty forgets that I cannot understand you," replied the Pumpkinhead. "If you wish me to sit down, you must make a sign for me to do so."
The Scarecrow came down from his throne and rolled an armchair to a position behind the Pumpkinhead. Then he gave Jack a sudden push that sent him sprawling upon the cushions in so awkward a fashion that he doubled up like a jack-knife, and had hard work to untangle himself.
"Did you understand that sign?" asked His Majesty politely.
"Perfectly," declared Jack...
♥ "Perhaps you are right," observed His Majesty. "But for my part, not being a soldier, I am fond of danger."
♥ "Keep still, you fool! Keep still!"
The horse at once ceased struggling and floated calmly upon the surface, its wooden body being as buoyant as a raft.
"What does the word "fool" mean?" inquired the horse.
"It is a term of reproach," answered Tip, somewhat ashamed of the expression. "I use it when I am angry."
"Then it pleases me to be able to call you a fool, in return," said the horse. "For I did not make the river, nor put it in our way; so only a term of reproach is fit for one who becomes angry with me for falling into the water."
♥ "I hope you are enjoying good health?" continued the Woodman.
"At present, yes," replied the Pumpkinhead, with a sigh, "but I am in constant terror of the day when I shall spoil."
"Nonsense!" said the Emperor, but in a kindly, sympathetic tone. "Do not, I beg of you, dampen today's sun with the showers of tomorrow. For before your head has time to spoil you can have it canned, and in that way it may be preserved indefinitely."
♥ "A live Sawhorse is a distinct novelty, and should prove an interesting study. Does he know anything?"
"Well, I cannot claim any great experience in life," the Sawhorse answered for himself, "but I seem to learn very quickly; and it often occurs to me that I know more than any of those around me."
"Perhaps you do," said the Emperor, "for experience does not always mean wisdom."
♥ "But-pardon me if I seem inquisitive-are you not all rather-ahem!-rather unusual?" asked the Wogglebug, looking from one to another with unconcealed interest.
"Not more so than yourself," answered the Scarecrow. "Everything in life is unusual until you get accustomed to it."
♥ "Friends, I entreat you not to quarrel!" pleaded the Tin Woodman anxiously. "As a matter of fact, we are none of us above criticism; so let us bear with each other's faults."
♥ But the Wogglebug strutted along as if he had made some brilliant remark, and the Scarecrow was obliged to say:
"I have heard, my dear friend, that a person can become overeducated; and although I have high respect for brains, no matter how they may be arranged or classified, I begin to suspect that yours are slightly tangled. In any event, I must beg you to restrain your superior education while in our society."
"We are not very particular," added the Tin Woodman, "and we are exceedingly kindhearted. But if your superior culture gets leaky again---" He did not complete the sentence, but he twirled his gleaming axe so carelessly that the Wogglebug looked frightened and shrank away to a safe distance.
♥ "Thank you, friend Nick," returned the Scarecrow. "Nothing can resist your kind heart and sharp axe."
♥ "Why, we've had a revolution, Your Majesty-as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away, the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of iron."
♥ "But I hope she cannot get at us," exclaimed the Pumpkinhead, with a shiver of fear. "She threatened to make tarts of me, you know."
"Don't worry," said the Tin Woodman. "It cannot matter greatly. If you stay shut up here you will spoil in time, anyway. A good tart is far more admirable than a decayed intellect."
♥ "That proves you are unusual," returned the Scarecrow, "and I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folk are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed."
♥ "It will satisfy me just as well to have Jinjur turned out as an impostor as to regain the throne myself. In fact, it isn't much fun to be King, especially if one has good brains."
♥ "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."
♥ 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..."
♥ At this exquisite vision Tip's old comrades stared in wonder for the pace 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.
♥ "I think," said the little Queen, smiling, "that your friend must be the richest man in all the world."
"I am," returned the Scarecrow, "but not on account of my money. For I consider brains far superior to money, in every way. You may have noticed that if one has money without brains, he cannot use it to advantage; but if one has brains without money, they will enable him to live comfortably to the end of his days."
"At the same time," declared the Tin Woodman, "you must acknowledge a good heart is a thing that brains cannot create and that money cannot buy. Perhaps, after all, it is I who am the richest man in all the world."
"You are both rich, my friends," said Ozma gently, "and your riches are the only riches worth having-the riches of content!"