The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
12. The Search for the Wicked Witch
The soldier with the green whiskers led them through the streets of theEmerald City until they reached the room where the Guardian of theGates lived. This officer unlocked their spectacles to put them backin his great box, and then he politely opened the gate for our friends.
”Which road leads to the Wicked Witch of the West?” asked Dorothy.
”There is no road,” answered the Guardian of the Gates. ”No one everwishes to go that way.”
”How, then, are we to find her?” inquired the girl.
”That will be easy,” replied the man, ”for when she knows you are inthe country of the Winkies she will find you, and make you all herslaves.”
”Perhaps not,” said the Scarecrow, ”for we mean to destroy her.”
”Oh, that is different,” said the Guardian of the Gates. ”No one hasever destroyed her before, so I naturally thought she would make slavesof you, as she has of the rest. But take care; for she is wicked andfierce, and may not allow you to destroy her. Keep to the West, wherethe sun sets, and you cannot fail to find her.”
They thanked him and bade him good-bye, and turned toward the West,walking over fields of soft grass dotted here and there with daisiesand buttercups. Dorothy still wore the pretty silk dress she had puton in the palace, but now, to her surprise, she found it was no longergreen, but pure white. The ribbon around Toto's neck had also lost itsgreen color and was as white as Dorothy's dress.
The Emerald City was soon left far behind. As they advanced the groundbecame rougher and hillier, for there were no farms nor houses in thiscountry of the West, and the ground was untilled.
In the afternoon the sun shone hot in their faces, for there were notrees to offer them shade; so that before night Dorothy and Toto andthe Lion were tired, and lay down upon the grass and fell asleep, withthe Woodman and the Scarecrow keeping watch.
Now the Wicked Witch of the West had but one eye, yet that was aspowerful as a telescope, and could see everywhere. So, as she sat inthe door of her castle, she happened to look around and saw Dorothylying asleep, with her friends all about her. They were a longdistance off, but the Wicked Witch was angry to find them in hercountry; so she blew upon a silver whistle that hung around her neck.
At once there came running to her from all directions a pack of greatwolves. They had long legs and fierce eyes and sharp teeth.
”Go to those people,” said the Witch, ”and tear them to pieces.”
”Are you not going to make them your slaves?” asked the leader of thewolves.
”No,” she answered, ”one is of tin, and one of straw; one is a girl andanother a Lion. None of them is fit to work, so you may tear them intosmall pieces.”
”Very well,” said the wolf, and he dashed away at full speed, followedby the others.
It was lucky the Scarecrow and the Woodman were wide awake and heardthe wolves coming.
”This is my fight,” said the Woodman, ”so get behind me and I will meetthem as they come.”
He seized his axe, which he had made very sharp, and as the leader ofthe wolves came on the Tin Woodman swung his arm and chopped the wolf'shead from its body, so that it immediately died. As soon as he couldraise his axe another wolf came up, and he also fell under the sharpedge of the Tin Woodman's weapon. There were forty wolves, and fortytimes a wolf was killed, so that at last they all lay dead in a heapbefore the Woodman.
Then he put down his axe and sat beside the Scarecrow, who said, ”Itwas a good fight, friend.”
They waited until Dorothy awoke the next morning. The little girl wasquite frightened when she saw the great pile of shaggy wolves, but theTin Woodman told her all. She thanked him for saving them and sat downto breakfast, after which they started again upon their journey.
Now this same morning the Wicked Witch came to the door of her castleand looked out with her one eye that could see far off. She saw allher wolves lying dead, and the strangers still traveling through hercountry. This made her angrier than before, and she blew her silverwhistle twice.
Straightway a great flock of wild crows came flying toward her, enoughto darken the sky.
And the Wicked Witch said to the King Crow, ”Fly at once to thestrangers; peck out their eyes and tear them to pieces.”
The wild crows flew in one great flock toward Dorothy and hercompanions. When the little girl saw them coming she was afraid.
But the Scarecrow said, ”This is my battle, so lie down beside me andyou will not be harmed.”
So they all lay upon the ground except the Scarecrow, and he stood upand stretched out his arms. And when the crows saw him they werefrightened, as these birds always are by scarecrows, and did not dareto come any nearer. But the King Crow said:
”It is only a stuffed man. I will peck his eyes out.”
The King Crow flew at the Scarecrow, who caught it by the head andtwisted its neck until it died. And then another crow flew at him, andthe Scarecrow twisted its neck also. There were forty crows, and fortytimes the Scarecrow twisted a neck, until at last all were lying deadbeside him. Then he called to his companions to rise, and again theywent upon their journey.
When the Wicked Witch looked out again and saw all her crows lying in aheap, she got into a terrible rage, and blew three times upon hersilver whistle.
Forthwith there was heard a great buzzing in the air, and a swarm ofblack bees came flying toward her.
”Go to the strangers and sting them to death!” commanded the Witch, andthe bees turned and flew rapidly until they came to where Dorothy andher friends were walking. But the Woodman had seen them coming, andthe Scarecrow had decided what to do.
”Take out my straw and scatter it over the little girl and the dog andthe Lion,” he said to the Woodman, ”and the bees cannot sting them.”This the Woodman did, and as Dorothy lay close beside the Lion and heldToto in her arms, the straw covered them entirely.
The bees came and found no one but the Woodman to sting, so they flewat him and broke off all their stings against the tin, without hurtingthe Woodman at all. And as bees cannot live when their stings arebroken that was the end of the black bees, and they lay scattered thickabout the Woodman, like little heaps of fine coal.
Then Dorothy and the Lion got up, and the girl helped the Tin Woodmanput the straw back into the Scarecrow again, until he was as good asever. So they started upon their journey once more.
The Wicked Witch was so angry when she saw her black bees in littleheaps like fine coal that she stamped her foot and tore her hair andgnashed her teeth. And then she called a dozen of her slaves, who werethe Winkies, and gave them sharp spears, telling them to go to thestrangers and destroy them.
The Winkies were not a brave people, but they had to do as they weretold. So they marched away until they came near to Dorothy. Then theLion gave a great roar and sprang towards them, and the poor Winkieswere so frightened that they ran back as fast as they could.
When they returned to the castle the Wicked Witch beat them well with astrap, and sent them back to their work, after which she sat down tothink what she should do next. She could not understand how all herplans to destroy these strangers had failed; but she was a powerfulWitch, as well as a wicked one, and she soon made up her mind how toact.
There was, in her cupboard, a Golden Cap, with a circle of diamonds andrubies running round it. This Golden Cap had a charm. Whoever ownedit could call three times upon the Winged Monkeys, who would obey anyorder they were given. But no person could command these strangecreatures more than three times. Twice already the Wicked Witch hadused the charm of the Cap. Once was when she had made the Winkies herslaves, and set herself to rule over their country. The Winged Monkeyshad helped her do this. The second time was when she had foughtagainst the Great Oz himself, and driven him out of the land of theWest. The Winged Monkeys had also helped her in doing this. Only oncemore could she use this Golden Cap, for which reason she did not liketo do so until all her other powers were exhausted. But now that herfierce wolves and her wild crows and her stinging bees were gone, andher slaves had been scared away by the Cowardly Lion, she saw there wasonly one way left to destroy Dorothy and her friends.
So the Wicked Witch took the Golden Cap from her cupboard and placed itupon her head. Then she stood upon her left foot and said slowly:
”Ep-pe, pep-pe, kak-ke!”
Next she stood upon her right foot and said:
”Hil-lo, hol-lo, hel-lo!”
After this she stood upon both feet and cried in a loud voice:
”Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!”
Now the charm began to work. The sky was darkened, and a low rumblingsound was heard in the air. There was a rushing of many wings, a greatchattering and laughing, and the sun came out of the dark sky to showthe Wicked Witch surrounded by a crowd of monkeys, each with a pair ofimmense and powerful wings on his shoulders.
One, much bigger than the others, seemed to be their leader. He flewclose to the Witch and said, ”You have called us for the third and lasttime. What do you command?”
”Go to the strangers who are within my land and destroy them all exceptthe Lion,” said the Wicked Witch. ”Bring that beast to me, for I havea mind to harness him like a horse, and make him work.”
”Your commands shall be obeyed,” said the leader. Then, with a greatdeal of chattering and noise, the Winged Monkeys flew away to the placewhere Dorothy and her friends were walking.
Some of the Monkeys seized the Tin Woodman and carried him through theair until they were over a country thickly covered with sharp rocks.Here they dropped the poor Woodman, who fell a great distance to therocks, where he lay so battered and dented that he could neither movenor groan.
Others of the Monkeys caught the Scarecrow, and with their long fingerspulled all of the straw out of his clothes and head. They made his hatand boots and clothes into a small bundle and threw it into the topbranches of a tall tree.
The remaining Monkeys threw pieces of stout rope around the Lion andwound many coils about his body and head and legs, until he was unableto bite or scratch or struggle in any way. Then they lifted him up andflew away with him to the Witch's castle, where he was placed in asmall yard with a high iron fence around it, so that he could notescape.
But Dorothy they did not harm at all. She stood, with Toto in herarms, watching the sad fate of her comrades and thinking it would soonbe her turn. The leader of the Winged Monkeys flew up to her, hislong, hairy arms stretched out and his ugly face grinning terribly; buthe saw the mark of the Good Witch's kiss upon her forehead and stoppedshort, motioning the others not to touch her.
”We dare not harm this little girl,” he said to them, ”for she isprotected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the Power ofEvil. All we can do is to carry her to the castle of the Wicked Witchand leave her there.”
So, carefully and gently, they lifted Dorothy in their arms and carriedher swiftly through the air until they came to the castle, where theyset her down upon the front doorstep. Then the leader said to theWitch:
”We have obeyed you as far as we were able. The Tin Woodman and theScarecrow are destroyed, and the Lion is tied up in your yard. Thelittle girl we dare not harm, nor the dog she carries in her arms.Your power over our band is now ended, and you will never see us again.”
Then all the Winged Monkeys, with much laughing and chattering andnoise, flew into the air and were soon out of sight.
The Wicked Witch was both surprised and worried when she saw the markon Dorothy's forehead, for she knew well that neither the WingedMonkeys nor she, herself, dare hurt the girl in any way. She lookeddown at Dorothy's feet, and seeing the Silver Shoes, began to tremblewith fear, for she knew what a powerful charm belonged to them. Atfirst the Witch was tempted to run away from Dorothy; but she happenedto look into the child's eyes and saw how simple the soul behind themwas, and that the little girl did not know of the wonderful power theSilver Shoes gave her. So the Wicked Witch laughed to herself, andthought, ”I can still make her my slave, for she does not know how touse her power.” Then she said to Dorothy, harshly and severely:
”Come with me; and see that you mind everything I tell you, for if youdo not I will make an end of you, as I did of the Tin Woodman and theScarecrow.”
Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castleuntil they came to the kitchen, where the Witch bade her clean the potsand kettles and sweep the floor and keep the fire fed with wood.
Dorothy went to work meekly, with her mind made up to work as hard asshe could; for she was glad the Wicked Witch had decided not to killher.
With Dorothy hard at work, the Witch thought she would go into thecourtyard and harness the Cowardly Lion like a horse; it would amuseher, she was sure, to make him draw her chariot whenever she wished togo to drive. But as she opened the gate the Lion gave a loud roar andbounded at her so fiercely that the Witch was afraid, and ran out andshut the gate again.
”If I cannot harness you,” said the Witch to the Lion, speaking throughthe bars of the gate, ”I can starve you. You shall have nothing to eatuntil you do as I wish.”
So after that she took no food to the imprisoned Lion; but every dayshe came to the gate at noon and asked, ”Are you ready to be harnessedlike a horse?”
And the Lion would answer, ”No. If you come in this yard, I will biteyou.”
The reason the Lion did not have to do as the Witch wished was thatevery night, while the woman was asleep, Dorothy carried him food fromthe cupboard. After he had eaten he would lie down on his bed ofstraw, and Dorothy would lie beside him and put her head on his soft,shaggy mane, while they talked of their troubles and tried to plan someway to escape. But they could find no way to get out of the castle,for it was constantly guarded by the yellow Winkies, who were theslaves of the Wicked Witch and too afraid of her not to do as she toldthem.
The girl had to work hard during the day, and often the Witchthreatened to beat her with the same old umbrella she always carried inher hand. But, in truth, she did not dare to strike Dorothy, becauseof the mark upon her forehead. The child did not know this, and wasfull of fear for herself and Toto. Once the Witch struck Toto a blowwith her umbrella and the brave little dog flew at her and bit her legin return. The Witch did not bleed where she was bitten, for she wasso wicked that the blood in her had dried up many years before.
Dorothy's life became very sad as she grew to understand that it wouldbe harder than ever to get back to Kansas and Aunt Em again. Sometimesshe would cry bitterly for hours, with Toto sitting at her feet andlooking into her face, whining dismally to show how sorry he was forhis little mistress. Toto did not really care whether he was in Kansasor the Land of Oz so long as Dorothy was with him; but he knew thelittle girl was unhappy, and that made him unhappy too.
Now the Wicked Witch had a great longing to have for her own the SilverShoes which the girl always wore. Her bees and her crows and herwolves were lying in heaps and drying up, and she had used up all thepower of the Golden Cap; but if she could only get hold of the SilverShoes, they would give her more power than all the other things she hadlost. She watched Dorothy carefully, to see if she ever took off hershoes, thinking she might steal them. But the child was so proud ofher pretty shoes that she never took them off except at night and whenshe took her bath. The Witch was too much afraid of the dark to darego in Dorothy's room at night to take the shoes, and her dread of waterwas greater than her fear of the dark, so she never came near whenDorothy was bathing. Indeed, the old Witch never touched water, norever let water touch her in any way.
But the wicked creature was very cunning, and she finally thought of atrick that would give her what she wanted. She placed a bar of iron inthe middle of the kitchen floor, and then by her magic arts made theiron invisible to human eyes. So that when Dorothy walked across thefloor she stumbled over the bar, not being able to see it, and fell atfull length. She was not much hurt, but in her fall one of the SilverShoes came off; and before she could reach it, the Witch had snatchedit away and put it on her own skinny foot.
The wicked woman was greatly pleased with the success of her trick, foras long as she had one of the shoes she owned half the power of theircharm, and Dorothy could not use it against her, even had she known howto do so.
The little girl, seeing she had lost one of her pretty shoes, grewangry, and said to the Witch, ”Give me back my shoe!”
”I will not,” retorted the Witch, ”for it is now my shoe, and notyours.”
”You are a wicked creature!” cried Dorothy. ”You have no right to takemy shoe from me.”
”I shall keep it, just the same,” said the Witch, laughing at her, ”andsomeday I shall get the other one from you, too.”
This made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of waterthat stood near and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from head tofoot.
Instantly the wicked woman gave a loud cry of fear, and then, asDorothy looked at her in wonder, the Witch began to shrink and fallaway.
”See what you have done!” she screamed. ”In a minute I shall meltaway.”
”I'm very sorry, indeed,” said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to seethe Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes.
”Didn't you know water would be the end of me?” asked the Witch, in awailing, despairing voice.
”Of course not,” answered Dorothy. ”How should I?”
”Well, in a few minutes I shall be all melted, and you will have thecastle to yourself. I have been wicked in my day, but I never thoughta little girl like you would ever be able to melt me and end my wickeddeeds. Look out--here I go!”
With these words the Witch fell down in a brown, melted, shapeless massand began to spread over the clean boards of the kitchen floor. Seeingthat she had really melted away to nothing, Dorothy drew another bucketof water and threw it over the mess. She then swept it all out thedoor. After picking out the silver shoe, which was all that was leftof the old woman, she cleaned and dried it with a cloth, and put it onher foot again. Then, being at last free to do as she chose, she ranout to the courtyard to tell the Lion that the Wicked Witch of the Westhad come to an end, and that they were no longer prisoners in a strangeland.
The soldier with the green whiskers led them through the streets of theEmerald City until they reached the room where the Guardian of theGates lived. This officer unlocked their spectacles to put them backin his great box, and then he politely opened the gate for our friends.
”Which road leads to the Wicked Witch of the West?” asked Dorothy.
”There is no road,” answered the Guardian of the Gates. ”No one everwishes to go that way.”
”How, then, are we to find her?” inquired the girl.
”That will be easy,” replied the man, ”for when she knows you are inthe country of the Winkies she will find you, and make you all herslaves.”
”Perhaps not,” said the Scarecrow, ”for we mean to destroy her.”
”Oh, that is different,” said the Guardian of the Gates. ”No one hasever destroyed her before, so I naturally thought she would make slavesof you, as she has of the rest. But take care; for she is wicked andfierce, and may not allow you to destroy her. Keep to the West, wherethe sun sets, and you cannot fail to find her.”
They thanked him and bade him good-bye, and turned toward the West,walking over fields of soft grass dotted here and there with daisiesand buttercups. Dorothy still wore the pretty silk dress she had puton in the palace, but now, to her surprise, she found it was no longergreen, but pure white. The ribbon around Toto's neck had also lost itsgreen color and was as white as Dorothy's dress.
The Emerald City was soon left far behind. As they advanced the groundbecame rougher and hillier, for there were no farms nor houses in thiscountry of the West, and the ground was untilled.
In the afternoon the sun shone hot in their faces, for there were notrees to offer them shade; so that before night Dorothy and Toto andthe Lion were tired, and lay down upon the grass and fell asleep, withthe Woodman and the Scarecrow keeping watch.
Now the Wicked Witch of the West had but one eye, yet that was aspowerful as a telescope, and could see everywhere. So, as she sat inthe door of her castle, she happened to look around and saw Dorothylying asleep, with her friends all about her. They were a longdistance off, but the Wicked Witch was angry to find them in hercountry; so she blew upon a silver whistle that hung around her neck.
At once there came running to her from all directions a pack of greatwolves. They had long legs and fierce eyes and sharp teeth.
”Go to those people,” said the Witch, ”and tear them to pieces.”
”Are you not going to make them your slaves?” asked the leader of thewolves.
”No,” she answered, ”one is of tin, and one of straw; one is a girl andanother a Lion. None of them is fit to work, so you may tear them intosmall pieces.”
”Very well,” said the wolf, and he dashed away at full speed, followedby the others.
It was lucky the Scarecrow and the Woodman were wide awake and heardthe wolves coming.
”This is my fight,” said the Woodman, ”so get behind me and I will meetthem as they come.”
He seized his axe, which he had made very sharp, and as the leader ofthe wolves came on the Tin Woodman swung his arm and chopped the wolf'shead from its body, so that it immediately died. As soon as he couldraise his axe another wolf came up, and he also fell under the sharpedge of the Tin Woodman's weapon. There were forty wolves, and fortytimes a wolf was killed, so that at last they all lay dead in a heapbefore the Woodman.
Then he put down his axe and sat beside the Scarecrow, who said, ”Itwas a good fight, friend.”
They waited until Dorothy awoke the next morning. The little girl wasquite frightened when she saw the great pile of shaggy wolves, but theTin Woodman told her all. She thanked him for saving them and sat downto breakfast, after which they started again upon their journey.
Now this same morning the Wicked Witch came to the door of her castleand looked out with her one eye that could see far off. She saw allher wolves lying dead, and the strangers still traveling through hercountry. This made her angrier than before, and she blew her silverwhistle twice.
Straightway a great flock of wild crows came flying toward her, enoughto darken the sky.
And the Wicked Witch said to the King Crow, ”Fly at once to thestrangers; peck out their eyes and tear them to pieces.”
The wild crows flew in one great flock toward Dorothy and hercompanions. When the little girl saw them coming she was afraid.
But the Scarecrow said, ”This is my battle, so lie down beside me andyou will not be harmed.”
So they all lay upon the ground except the Scarecrow, and he stood upand stretched out his arms. And when the crows saw him they werefrightened, as these birds always are by scarecrows, and did not dareto come any nearer. But the King Crow said:
”It is only a stuffed man. I will peck his eyes out.”
The King Crow flew at the Scarecrow, who caught it by the head andtwisted its neck until it died. And then another crow flew at him, andthe Scarecrow twisted its neck also. There were forty crows, and fortytimes the Scarecrow twisted a neck, until at last all were lying deadbeside him. Then he called to his companions to rise, and again theywent upon their journey.
When the Wicked Witch looked out again and saw all her crows lying in aheap, she got into a terrible rage, and blew three times upon hersilver whistle.
Forthwith there was heard a great buzzing in the air, and a swarm ofblack bees came flying toward her.
”Go to the strangers and sting them to death!” commanded the Witch, andthe bees turned and flew rapidly until they came to where Dorothy andher friends were walking. But the Woodman had seen them coming, andthe Scarecrow had decided what to do.
”Take out my straw and scatter it over the little girl and the dog andthe Lion,” he said to the Woodman, ”and the bees cannot sting them.”This the Woodman did, and as Dorothy lay close beside the Lion and heldToto in her arms, the straw covered them entirely.
The bees came and found no one but the Woodman to sting, so they flewat him and broke off all their stings against the tin, without hurtingthe Woodman at all. And as bees cannot live when their stings arebroken that was the end of the black bees, and they lay scattered thickabout the Woodman, like little heaps of fine coal.
Then Dorothy and the Lion got up, and the girl helped the Tin Woodmanput the straw back into the Scarecrow again, until he was as good asever. So they started upon their journey once more.
The Wicked Witch was so angry when she saw her black bees in littleheaps like fine coal that she stamped her foot and tore her hair andgnashed her teeth. And then she called a dozen of her slaves, who werethe Winkies, and gave them sharp spears, telling them to go to thestrangers and destroy them.
The Winkies were not a brave people, but they had to do as they weretold. So they marched away until they came near to Dorothy. Then theLion gave a great roar and sprang towards them, and the poor Winkieswere so frightened that they ran back as fast as they could.
When they returned to the castle the Wicked Witch beat them well with astrap, and sent them back to their work, after which she sat down tothink what she should do next. She could not understand how all herplans to destroy these strangers had failed; but she was a powerfulWitch, as well as a wicked one, and she soon made up her mind how toact.
There was, in her cupboard, a Golden Cap, with a circle of diamonds andrubies running round it. This Golden Cap had a charm. Whoever ownedit could call three times upon the Winged Monkeys, who would obey anyorder they were given. But no person could command these strangecreatures more than three times. Twice already the Wicked Witch hadused the charm of the Cap. Once was when she had made the Winkies herslaves, and set herself to rule over their country. The Winged Monkeyshad helped her do this. The second time was when she had foughtagainst the Great Oz himself, and driven him out of the land of theWest. The Winged Monkeys had also helped her in doing this. Only oncemore could she use this Golden Cap, for which reason she did not liketo do so until all her other powers were exhausted. But now that herfierce wolves and her wild crows and her stinging bees were gone, andher slaves had been scared away by the Cowardly Lion, she saw there wasonly one way left to destroy Dorothy and her friends.
So the Wicked Witch took the Golden Cap from her cupboard and placed itupon her head. Then she stood upon her left foot and said slowly:
”Ep-pe, pep-pe, kak-ke!”
Next she stood upon her right foot and said:
”Hil-lo, hol-lo, hel-lo!”
After this she stood upon both feet and cried in a loud voice:
”Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!”
Now the charm began to work. The sky was darkened, and a low rumblingsound was heard in the air. There was a rushing of many wings, a greatchattering and laughing, and the sun came out of the dark sky to showthe Wicked Witch surrounded by a crowd of monkeys, each with a pair ofimmense and powerful wings on his shoulders.
One, much bigger than the others, seemed to be their leader. He flewclose to the Witch and said, ”You have called us for the third and lasttime. What do you command?”
”Go to the strangers who are within my land and destroy them all exceptthe Lion,” said the Wicked Witch. ”Bring that beast to me, for I havea mind to harness him like a horse, and make him work.”
”Your commands shall be obeyed,” said the leader. Then, with a greatdeal of chattering and noise, the Winged Monkeys flew away to the placewhere Dorothy and her friends were walking.
Some of the Monkeys seized the Tin Woodman and carried him through theair until they were over a country thickly covered with sharp rocks.Here they dropped the poor Woodman, who fell a great distance to therocks, where he lay so battered and dented that he could neither movenor groan.
Others of the Monkeys caught the Scarecrow, and with their long fingerspulled all of the straw out of his clothes and head. They made his hatand boots and clothes into a small bundle and threw it into the topbranches of a tall tree.
The remaining Monkeys threw pieces of stout rope around the Lion andwound many coils about his body and head and legs, until he was unableto bite or scratch or struggle in any way. Then they lifted him up andflew away with him to the Witch's castle, where he was placed in asmall yard with a high iron fence around it, so that he could notescape.
But Dorothy they did not harm at all. She stood, with Toto in herarms, watching the sad fate of her comrades and thinking it would soonbe her turn. The leader of the Winged Monkeys flew up to her, hislong, hairy arms stretched out and his ugly face grinning terribly; buthe saw the mark of the Good Witch's kiss upon her forehead and stoppedshort, motioning the others not to touch her.
”We dare not harm this little girl,” he said to them, ”for she isprotected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the Power ofEvil. All we can do is to carry her to the castle of the Wicked Witchand leave her there.”
So, carefully and gently, they lifted Dorothy in their arms and carriedher swiftly through the air until they came to the castle, where theyset her down upon the front doorstep. Then the leader said to theWitch:
”We have obeyed you as far as we were able. The Tin Woodman and theScarecrow are destroyed, and the Lion is tied up in your yard. Thelittle girl we dare not harm, nor the dog she carries in her arms.Your power over our band is now ended, and you will never see us again.”
Then all the Winged Monkeys, with much laughing and chattering andnoise, flew into the air and were soon out of sight.
The Wicked Witch was both surprised and worried when she saw the markon Dorothy's forehead, for she knew well that neither the WingedMonkeys nor she, herself, dare hurt the girl in any way. She lookeddown at Dorothy's feet, and seeing the Silver Shoes, began to tremblewith fear, for she knew what a powerful charm belonged to them. Atfirst the Witch was tempted to run away from Dorothy; but she happenedto look into the child's eyes and saw how simple the soul behind themwas, and that the little girl did not know of the wonderful power theSilver Shoes gave her. So the Wicked Witch laughed to herself, andthought, ”I can still make her my slave, for she does not know how touse her power.” Then she said to Dorothy, harshly and severely:
”Come with me; and see that you mind everything I tell you, for if youdo not I will make an end of you, as I did of the Tin Woodman and theScarecrow.”
Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castleuntil they came to the kitchen, where the Witch bade her clean the potsand kettles and sweep the floor and keep the fire fed with wood.
Dorothy went to work meekly, with her mind made up to work as hard asshe could; for she was glad the Wicked Witch had decided not to killher.
With Dorothy hard at work, the Witch thought she would go into thecourtyard and harness the Cowardly Lion like a horse; it would amuseher, she was sure, to make him draw her chariot whenever she wished togo to drive. But as she opened the gate the Lion gave a loud roar andbounded at her so fiercely that the Witch was afraid, and ran out andshut the gate again.
”If I cannot harness you,” said the Witch to the Lion, speaking throughthe bars of the gate, ”I can starve you. You shall have nothing to eatuntil you do as I wish.”
So after that she took no food to the imprisoned Lion; but every dayshe came to the gate at noon and asked, ”Are you ready to be harnessedlike a horse?”
And the Lion would answer, ”No. If you come in this yard, I will biteyou.”
The reason the Lion did not have to do as the Witch wished was thatevery night, while the woman was asleep, Dorothy carried him food fromthe cupboard. After he had eaten he would lie down on his bed ofstraw, and Dorothy would lie beside him and put her head on his soft,shaggy mane, while they talked of their troubles and tried to plan someway to escape. But they could find no way to get out of the castle,for it was constantly guarded by the yellow Winkies, who were theslaves of the Wicked Witch and too afraid of her not to do as she toldthem.
The girl had to work hard during the day, and often the Witchthreatened to beat her with the same old umbrella she always carried inher hand. But, in truth, she did not dare to strike Dorothy, becauseof the mark upon her forehead. The child did not know this, and wasfull of fear for herself and Toto. Once the Witch struck Toto a blowwith her umbrella and the brave little dog flew at her and bit her legin return. The Witch did not bleed where she was bitten, for she wasso wicked that the blood in her had dried up many years before.
Dorothy's life became very sad as she grew to understand that it wouldbe harder than ever to get back to Kansas and Aunt Em again. Sometimesshe would cry bitterly for hours, with Toto sitting at her feet andlooking into her face, whining dismally to show how sorry he was forhis little mistress. Toto did not really care whether he was in Kansasor the Land of Oz so long as Dorothy was with him; but he knew thelittle girl was unhappy, and that made him unhappy too.
Now the Wicked Witch had a great longing to have for her own the SilverShoes which the girl always wore. Her bees and her crows and herwolves were lying in heaps and drying up, and she had used up all thepower of the Golden Cap; but if she could only get hold of the SilverShoes, they would give her more power than all the other things she hadlost. She watched Dorothy carefully, to see if she ever took off hershoes, thinking she might steal them. But the child was so proud ofher pretty shoes that she never took them off except at night and whenshe took her bath. The Witch was too much afraid of the dark to darego in Dorothy's room at night to take the shoes, and her dread of waterwas greater than her fear of the dark, so she never came near whenDorothy was bathing. Indeed, the old Witch never touched water, norever let water touch her in any way.
But the wicked creature was very cunning, and she finally thought of atrick that would give her what she wanted. She placed a bar of iron inthe middle of the kitchen floor, and then by her magic arts made theiron invisible to human eyes. So that when Dorothy walked across thefloor she stumbled over the bar, not being able to see it, and fell atfull length. She was not much hurt, but in her fall one of the SilverShoes came off; and before she could reach it, the Witch had snatchedit away and put it on her own skinny foot.
The wicked woman was greatly pleased with the success of her trick, foras long as she had one of the shoes she owned half the power of theircharm, and Dorothy could not use it against her, even had she known howto do so.
The little girl, seeing she had lost one of her pretty shoes, grewangry, and said to the Witch, ”Give me back my shoe!”
”I will not,” retorted the Witch, ”for it is now my shoe, and notyours.”
”You are a wicked creature!” cried Dorothy. ”You have no right to takemy shoe from me.”
”I shall keep it, just the same,” said the Witch, laughing at her, ”andsomeday I shall get the other one from you, too.”
This made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of waterthat stood near and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from head tofoot.
Instantly the wicked woman gave a loud cry of fear, and then, asDorothy looked at her in wonder, the Witch began to shrink and fallaway.
”See what you have done!” she screamed. ”In a minute I shall meltaway.”
”I'm very sorry, indeed,” said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to seethe Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes.
”Didn't you know water would be the end of me?” asked the Witch, in awailing, despairing voice.
”Of course not,” answered Dorothy. ”How should I?”
”Well, in a few minutes I shall be all melted, and you will have thecastle to yourself. I have been wicked in my day, but I never thoughta little girl like you would ever be able to melt me and end my wickeddeeds. Look out--here I go!”
With these words the Witch fell down in a brown, melted, shapeless massand began to spread over the clean boards of the kitchen floor. Seeingthat she had really melted away to nothing, Dorothy drew another bucketof water and threw it over the mess. She then swept it all out thedoor. After picking out the silver shoe, which was all that was leftof the old woman, she cleaned and dried it with a cloth, and put it onher foot again. Then, being at last free to do as she chose, she ranout to the courtyard to tell the Lion that the Wicked Witch of the Westhad come to an end, and that they were no longer prisoners in a strangeland.