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    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
    Ebook146 pages3 hours

    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    By L. Frank Baum

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    "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is the classic story of fantasy that has delighted readers young and old for decades. Dorothy finds herself transplanted to the magical land of Oz when her house is sucked up by a tornado. To get back home she must follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard to help her get back to Kansas. Along the way she meets several interesting characters including the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion who join her on her travels to ask the Wizard for help of their own.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2010
    ISBN9781596257030
    Author

    L. Frank Baum

    Lyman Frank Baum was born in 1856 in Chittenango in the state of New York. Educated mostly at home due to ill health, he was encouraged by his wealthy father to pursue his early interests in journalism and playwriting. He started his first magazine aged fifteen, had his own theatre at twenty-four and worked for many newspapers and periodicals before turning to children's fiction with stories he had made up for his own four sons. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, was his third bestselling book in as many years, and launched the series of Oz titles. Baum had moved with his family to Hollywood following the huge success of the books and stage adaptations. His own Oz Film Manufacturing Company failed to capitalize on the stories, and the hugely popular movie The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland, was not made until twenty years after Baum's death in 1939.

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    Reviews for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    4/5

    3,785 ratings181 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I just finished reading this book to my son, who is almost six. He really liked it, which sort of surprised me as it was more challenging for him to stay with than all the picture books and easy readers we usually share. I am very glad that my edition had all the old pictures in it so that it still had a little picture book flavor. That made the transition to more advanced reading easier.

      The one thing I will note: As with the Beatrix Potter stories I also read in my childhood, I was a little surprised at the level of violence in this book. I guess it is just a reminder of how times have changed. But if you are at all worried about creatures of various sorts meeting a rather gruesome demise, I would sit this book out. But I truly believe you would be missing out on a really wonderful story.

      Keep in mind as well that there are some MAJOR differences from the MGM movie -- the ruby slippers are silver, and Glinda is not the same Good Witch as the one at the beginning of the novel. (Spoiler: This change is what makes the movie Glinda seem so awful if you really think about it. She knew the whole time about the slippers and she never said anything?? Not cool.)
    • 5/5
      A great book for the young and old alike. If you're familiar with the movie or with Wicked... throw everything you know away and immerse yourself fully in this wondrous piece of art. Dorothy is a determined, plucky girl, the Wicked Witch is very much a child herself, and the Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman are as humourous and heartfelt as you always thought them to be. I highly recommend this book to every little girl looking for some adventure and humour, and every little boy wanting the same!
    • 4/5
      It's REEEALLLY good. The kind of books I love to read :D It's ''childish'', but not written as though we were children of 5 to understand it. :D
    • 4/5
      A rather wonderful story! There were definitely some differences from the movie, which I found interesting, and I listened to the audiobook, which was a very nice interpretation/performance. I don't feel the political aspects were very pronounced, I'll have to read more analysis of that to understand it better, I suppose.
    • 5/5
      The book is definitely different from the movie. The tale is directed towards youngsters with the use of repeating things and simplified wordings. There is a bit too much violence for a children's book, though. There is a scene where the scarecrow kills crows by snapping their necks.
    • 4/5
      I have been reading this book ever since i was a child. Every time i pick this book up its like I am reading it for the first time again. It is a wonderful childrens book about a young girl named Dorothy. During a tornado she is swept up in her house with her small dog Toto into a wonderful and strange world filled with animals, and objects that can talk, magic witches and wizards, and little people called Munchkins. The second Dorothy touches down in her house, she is finders herself in trouble. This book is a truly wonderful gift for any child that has a wild imagination.
    • 4/5
      This classic novel, as most people know, is about Dorothy from Kansas, who rides in a tornado to OZ and tries to find her way home. This is the first time i ever read this book, and i thought it was very enjoyable.I found this book to be quite imaginative and fun to read as dorothy encounters many strange situations as she is trying to find the way to go back home.
    • 3/5
      Until I bought this book I had no idea it was part of a series. I was lucky enough to visit a friend's house and her grandmother had passed down to her all of the series in the world of Oz. I thought some of the books after the Wonderful Wizard were far more entertaining. However, this is a classic and should thus be respected. Fellow bibliophiles who read the book will be sure to note the vast differences from this and the movie.
    • 3/5
      I liked this book because there are almost no hard words to find in this book. You can read this book also when you're laying down in your bed when your tired.I think this book is suitable for all ages. You can read it when you're 12 years oldbut also when your 70 years old.It fun to watch the movie too, but do this after reading 'the wizzard of oz'.
    • 4/5
      The parable of early 1900's American optimism is very strong in this story. Each character has some latent potential that is being exhibited but not internalized. All of the virtues are fully realized but highly desired: brains, courage, heart, and a longing for home, even if that home is drab Kansas. The story is also a great deal darker in flavor than the film version. The tin man is constantly hacking at animals with his ax and the tin man gets torn to shreds. The witch sends out all sorts of things besides flying monkeys to kill the companions. It was refreshing to read this after filing it away as something to watch while listening to Pink Floyd. I'll read the next ones, especially if Folio Society continues to release these nice editions.
    • 4/5
      As a child, The Wizard of Oz was a constant, a movie that would be watched several times in the course of the year. We'd laugh at the scarecrows antics, sigh at the tin man's desire for a heart and giggle at the cowardly lion. The wicked witch would scare us and Toto would make us want a dog - so I'm not quite sure how it happened that I never managed to get around to reading the books. I decided to end 2010 (and start 2011's reviews) off with reading all fifteen Oz books by L. Frank Baum. I'm glad I made that decision, as after this single book I found myself falling in love in a completely different way with the story. Simplistic and perfect, Baum's writing is easily understood by young and old alike. There's enough of a difference between the book and the movie to keep you interested, even if you've seen the movie as many times as I have (or more!). I laughed and enjoyed myself thoroughly ... now just to find a pretty set to put on my shelves.
    • 4/5
      this story is advemture and fantasy. I read this book after watching the movie when I was 8. And a lot more happens in the book than the movie. I like this classic book becasue eazy to read and exciting. Dorothy and her little dog get blown away during a storm to the another world. She teams up with a scarecrow, tin man and a lion. Each searching for their own thing.
    • 4/5
      Dorothy lives in the west with her aunt and uncle or she did till a tornado swept her and her house to the west. Dorothy mis's her aunt and uncle so she try's to go back but there i lots to stop her.
    • 5/5
      L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is one of those precious novels that has almost been eclipsed in fame by the movie based on it. I must admit that more than once when picking up this book, I mentally sung to myself, "I'm off to read the wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". And yet as fond as I am of the classic musical, I somehow went through childhood never having read the original text. Berating myself over this, I eagerly downloaded the novel to my Kindle and joyfully read the simple story rather rapidly.Baum really did create a wonderful fantasy story for children with this book. The prose is straightforward but beautifully descriptive and the adventures are quite numerous for such a short story. I was pleased to find that the movie had done justice to the book, but there were also some rather startling discoveries such as Dorothy's not-so-ruby slippers: the magical, iconic Hollywood footwear were originally written to be silver shoes. The book also covers much more of the various people and places in Oz, including the Winkies and the Quadlings, and another surprise was that the winged monkeys were not entirely evil.I really enjoyed experiencing this book as an adult, but I'm rather sure I would have loved it even more as a child. Baum's imagination is extensive and I think Dorothy's adventures have a distinctive bedtime story feel to them. The classic characters of the Lion, Tin Woodsman, and Scarecrow, and even the spunky little dog Toto, make this a story about friendship and love as much as about fantasy and fun. Knowing that no matter how far one travels it is good to be safe and at home again, this story seems to end perfectly with the sighing words, "good night".
    • 4/5
      Poor Frank Baum---so often the casual reader comes upon his book after viewing the best movie adaptation ever. The book is a bit different from the film, most notably in the ending, which is far superior to the movie's slick closing.There is little backstory here; instead we are transported almost immediately to the land of Oz. "Wizard" is not nearly as dated as some books from the same era; the fantasy holds up well, we meet some funny characteres and Baum presents a painless moral lesson quickly seen by adults but not quite so quickly by children. A good read-aloud for second or third graders; a good read-alone for fourth or fifth gradeers.
    • 4/5
      It occured to me, after reading Finding Oz, that I'd never actually read the book that the oft viewed movie was based on. I should say loosely based: I don't remember dainty china people, or wolves getting decapitated, or magical caps summoning the flying monkeys. Fun and highly imaginative, even without the musical numbers.
    • 3/5
      Baum set out to create a modern myth for children, taking, perhaps, the stories of Hans Christian Andersen as a template. He achieved that, with a story that has passed down through the generations and is as celebrated today as it ever was. However, for many of us - myself particularly - knowledge of the story is clouded by familiarity with the movie versions; so it was nice to go back to the source and see what the original was all about.
    • 4/5
      The hiroine of this story is the brave and sensible Dorothy , who lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in a little house on the gray Kansas prairie . I like this story very much . When I was a elementary school student , I probably read " The Wizard of Oz" much more 5 times. then I think that Oz is drothy. This story is very exciting and interesting because the main caracter is very strange, a lion ,a tinplate toy and a scarecrow. At first sight this conbination is odd but htey are very brave and good friends.After i read this book , I feel preasure . I want to go journy like them and I would like to be excited .
    • 4/5
      This is the classic story of Dorothy, the yellow brick road, etc. The story all of us know. Except with a lot of other things that weren't in the movie at all! All kinds of crazy things, some of which would have been too violent for the movie! It's a charming tale with some really cute illustrations. after reading the second one I liked the second one better because of the illustrations in the second one are different and I liked them better and the fact that this one seemed so strange after being so familiar with the movie and having so many extra and changed things in this one. I see this as a self-chosen book for kids who are reading their own chapter books, or as a choice in a fantasy unit.
    • 4/5
      So, so, so very different from the movie! And so much better! I feel an affection for the story now that I never had before, and I feel much better now about my dislike of the movie considering how much the original story was butchered!
    • 3/5
      The Wizard of Oz was one of my favorite movies as a child, so I was curious to see what the original story was like. I was a little bit disappointed and I definitely like the movie version was better, but it was very interesting to see all the differences between the movie and the book.
    • 3/5
      It's hard to negatively judge a classic, but I was disappointed by this book. I remembering enjoying it as a child so it is probably the adult in me being overly critical. The book is very different from the movie. There are small differences in detail (silver slippers instead of ruby), character (the trio just think they're lacking something: the lion regularly acts brave, the tinman is often emotional, etc), and plot (the wicked Witch of the West only comes into the story when Dorothy and company set off to assassinate her for the Wizard).The book has many fable elements, which is to be expected given Baum apparently wrote it in that style. However, the pacing feels off with the obvious climax (the confrontation with the Witch and the subsequent departure of the Wizard) coming two-thirds of the way through the novel.
    • 4/5
      This book is a true classic. It is such an imaginative story that a child will not be able to put this book down. Baum makes the sentences easy enough for a child to read. There are illustrations throughout the book that will help to break up the text a little bit.In class, you can have the children read the book and then watch the classic movie. They can compare the differences between the two.
    • 3/5
      I don't think many more than a few fans of L. Frank Baum's 14-book Oz series claim The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a favorite. Speaking as a childhood Oz fan myself, I always considered this as not much more than a forgettable set-up for the much more interesting excursions that occur later in the series (with Ozma, and Glinda, and Captain Bill, and *insert your favorite combination of characters here*).Rereading this now, as an adult, it's easy to see why: Baum's prose here is rather stilted and almost dour at times. It's not helped along by W. W. Denslow's illustrations, which, while rather intelligently using the limited color-printing to great effect, interpret Oz almost as a toy land. His Dorothy and crew in action seem almost dumpy and static, posed doll-like even, in comparison to the more sprightly drawings of John R. Neill (illustrator of the remaining 13 books by Baum, and the next 24 canon Oz books, including three he penned himself).Yet in one way, Baum was entirely successful: he created a new American fairy tale. His talent for creating memorable characters created from both pillaged archetypes (echoes of parables and folktales abound) and strange invention is in full force here. And they tap into symbolic universal struggles. The iconic Dorothy, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, the humbug Wizard- they’ve become intrinsic within pop culture. In that way, I’m really glad I reread it, not taking my own memories, “the populist interpretation”, Wicked, etc- as “good-enough” readings of the text.This Oz isn’t the Technicolor dreamland of the 1939 MGM musical; this isn’t the joyful utopian adventure-land I remember. The land of Oz surprised me in both its simplicity and dangerous charm. The characters astounded me over and over again: Dorothy’s blessed frank and common-sense nature, the Scarecrow philosophical argument about the benefits of mind over heart, the Wizard’s people-pleasing nature, the Tin Man’s combination of compassionate heart and brutal ax hand. Please don’t take my word for it- it’s something new and something old… and unforgettable.
    • 4/5
      I think this is a great book for all to read. It is slightly different than the movie and gives insight on the historical happenings during that time. The imagery is not as colorful as the movie, the illustrations are far and few between which was kind of disappointing. Overall their are excellent messages for children to pick up on and ideals to grasp and understand. The quotes by the characters are priceless. I love the fact that the Scarecrow doesn't think he has a brain, yet is able to talk, think and behave as though he does. The characters are lacking confidence in themselves, when everything they wanted was right there in front of them in their actions. Great book, not surprised it has been around for 100 plus years!!
    • 5/5
      ** spoiler alert ** After reading Wicked, I realized that I had never actually read The Wizard of Oz. I had seen the movie, which is very different. I was very pleasantly surprised by the book. It is full of action and the character development is done quite well. My favorite part in the whole book is the description of the Emerald City being white, and that it only appears emerald because everyone is made to wear emerald glasses. I highly recommend this book, especially if you have only ever seen the movie.
    • 5/5
      This is a wonderful book to read, especially if you love the movie, but you must be aware that the book is considerably different than the movie. I think this is a case where the majority of people will have seen the movie before reading the book, and therefore may not like the book. For example, the Emerald City is actually white, did you know that? They also encounter many talking animals such as a stork that saves the scarecrow and a mouse who is a queen. This book is much more detailed than the movie, as most books are.I would recommend this book for my library (medium public library).
    • 5/5
      This is a really, really enjoyable book and is one of those must read books. I really, really liked it.In this story a cyclone hits Dorothy's house in Kansas and, the cyclone caries Dorothy and her little dog Toto to a faraway land called "The land of Oz".There, she meets four new friends...The Scarecrow, The Tin Woodman and The Cowardly Lion.So Dorothy and her friends decide to go to a famous wizard called Oz. They all want to go there for a reason...Dorothy -To get back to Kansas, The Scarecrow -To get new brains, The Tin Woodman -To get a heart and The Cowardly Lion Wants to get.Will Dorothy and her friends make it to the Great Oz?
    • 4/5
      I suppose it's really a wonderful story. Although it was made for children, I believe anyone can read and enjoy it. This tale shows us a kind of magic world which is not much different of our own (excluding the talking animals off course). A little girl who has been lost in the strange land of OZ seeks for a way to get back home. She has been told about a powerful wizard which is the only one that could help her, travelling through an unknown land she finds a group of peculiar characters who have some "terrible problems" and she convinced all of them to follow her and maybe get their "problems" solved too. In this adventure we can reflect about some society's stereotypes and behaviors and take a good lesson for our lives. This is an essential reading for the kids and could be much pleasured for the adults!Tip: If English is not your native language, that's a very nice story to practice the reading!
    • 3/5
      A girl named Dorothy finds herself wisked of to the magcal land of Oz. There she meets a lion, a tin man, and a scarecrow. They want to go to the Emerald City to get help.

    Book preview

    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

    THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ

    BY L. FRANK BAUM

    A Digireads.com Book

    Digireads.com Publishing

    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    By L. Frank Baum

    Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-2226-4

    Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-59625-703-0

    This edition copyright © 2011

    Please visit www.digireads.com

    CONTENTS

    CHAPTER 1. THE CYCLONE

    CHAPTER 2. THE COUNCIL WITH THE MUNCHKINS

    CHAPTER 3. HOW DOROTHY SAVED THE SCARECROW

    CHAPTER 4. THE ROAD THROUGH THE FOREST

    CHAPTER 5. THE RESCUE OF THE TIN WOODMAN

    CHAPTER 6. THE COWARDLY LION

    CHAPTER 7. THE JOURNEY TO THE GREAT OZ

    CHAPTER 8. THE DEADLY POPPY FIELD

    CHAPTER 9. THE QUEEN OF THE FIELD MICE

    CHAPTER 10. THE GUARDIAN OF THE GATE

    CHAPTER 11. THE WONDERFUL CITY OF OZ

    CHAPTER 12. THE SEARCH FOR THE WICKED WITCH

    CHAPTER 13. THE RESCUE

    CHAPTER 14. THE WINGED MONKEYS

    CHAPTER 15. THE DISCOVERY OF OZ, THE TERRIBLE

    CHAPTER 16. THE MAGIC ART OF THE GREAT HUMBUG

    CHAPTER 17. HOW THE BALLOON WAS LAUNCHED

    CHAPTER 18. AWAY TO THE SOUTH

    CHAPTER 19. ATTACKED BY THE FIGHTING TREES

    CHAPTER 20. THE DAINTY CHINA COUNTRY

    CHAPTER 21. THE LION BECOMES THE KING OF BEASTS

    CHAPTER 22. THE COUNTRY OF THE QUADLINGS

    CHAPTER 23. GLINDA THE GOOD WITCH GRANTS DOROTHY'S WISH

    CHAPTER 24. HOME AGAIN

    INTRODUCTION

    Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.

    Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as historical in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer wonder tales in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.

    Having this thought in mind, the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.

    L. Frank Baum

    Chicago, April, 1900.

    CHAPTER 1. THE CYCLONE

    Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cooking stove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar—except a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.

    When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.

    When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.

    Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.

    It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.

    Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.

    From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction also.

    Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.

    There's a cyclone coming, Em, he called to his wife. I'll go look after the stock. Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept.

    Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her of the danger close at hand.

    Quick, Dorothy! she screamed. Run for the cellar!

    Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor.

    Then a strange thing happened.

    The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon.

    The north and south winds met where the house stood, and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In the middle of a cyclone the air is generally still, but the great pressure of the wind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather.

    It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle.

    Toto did not like it. He ran about the room, now here, now there, barking loudly; but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited to see what would happen.

    Once Toto got too near the open trap door, and fell in; and at first the little girl thought she had lost him. But soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept to the hole, caught Toto by the ear, and dragged him into the room again, afterward closing the trap door so that no more accidents could happen.

    Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her.

    In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.

    CHAPTER 2. THE COUNCIL WITH THE MUNCHKINS

    She was awakened by a shock, so sudden and severe that if Dorothy had not been lying on the soft bed she might have been hurt. As it was, the jar made her catch her breath and wonder what had happened; and Toto put his cold little nose into her face and whined dismally. Dorothy sat up and noticed that the house was not moving; nor was it dark, for the bright sunshine came in at the window, flooding the little room. She sprang from her bed and with Toto at her heels ran and opened the door.

    The little girl gave a cry of amazement and looked about her, her eyes growing bigger and bigger at the wonderful sights she saw.

    The cyclone had set the house down very gently—for a cyclone—in the midst of a country of marvelous beauty. There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes. A little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparkling along between green banks, and murmuring in a voice very grateful to a little girl who had lived so long on the dry, gray prairies.

    While she stood looking eagerly at the strange and beautiful sights, she noticed coming toward her a group of the queerest people she had ever seen. They were not as big as the grown folk she had always been used to; but neither were they very small. In fact, they seemed about as tall as Dorothy, who was a well-grown child for her age, although they were, so far as looks go, many years older.

    Three were men and one a woman, and all were oddly dressed. They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. The hats of the men were blue; the little woman's hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders. Over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds. The men were dressed in blue, of the same shade as their hats, and wore well-polished boots with a deep roll of blue at the tops. The men, Dorothy thought, were about as old as Uncle Henry, for two of them had beards. But the little woman was doubtless much older. Her face was covered with wrinkles, her hair was nearly white, and she walked rather stiffly.

    When these people drew near the house

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