MAGICAL MONARCH OF MO AND HIS PEOPLE***


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THE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF THE MAGICAL MONARCH OF MO AND HIS PEOPLE

by

L. FRANK BAUM

With pictures by Frank Ver Beck

1903







To the Comrade of my
boyhood days
Dr. Henry Clay Baum



TO THE READER

This book has been written for children. I have no shame in
acknowledging that I, who wrote it, am also a child; for since I can
remember my eyes have always grown big at tales of the marvelous, and
my heart is still accustomed to go pit-a-pat when I read of impossible
adventures. It is the nature of children to scorn realities, which
crowd into their lives all too quickly with advancing years. Childhood
is the time for fables, for dreams, for joy.

These stories are not true; they could no be true and be so marvelous.
No one is expected to believe them; they were meant to excite laughter
and to gladden the heart.

Perhaps some of those big, grown-up people will poke fun of us--at you
for reading these nonsense tales of the Magical Monarch, and at me for
writing them. Never mind. Many of the big folk are still children--even
as you and I. We cannot measure a child by a standard of size or age.
The big folk who are children will be our comrades; the others we need
not consider at all, for they are self-exiled from our domain.

             L. FRANK BAUM.

June, 1903.



CONTENTS


THE FIRST SURPRISE
The Beautiful Valley of Mo

THE SECOND SURPRISE
The Strange Adventures of the King's Head

THE THIRD SURPRISE
The Tramp Dog and the Monarch's Lost Temper

THE FOURTH SURPRISE
The Peculiar Pains of Fruit Cake Island

THE FIFTH SURPRISE
The Monarch Celebrates His Birthday

THE SIXTH SURPRISE
King Scowleyow and His Cast-Iron Man

THE SEVENTH SURPRISE
Timtom and the Princess Pattycake

THE EIGHTH SURPRISE
The Bravery of Prince Jollikin

THE NINTH SURPRISE
The Wizard and the Princess

THE TENTH SURPRISE
The Duchess Bredenbutta's Visit to Turvyland

THE ELEVENTH SURPRISE
Prince Fiddlecumdoo and the Giant

THE TWELFTH SURPRISE
The Land of the Civilized Monkeys

THE THIRTEENTH SURPRISE
The Stolen Plum-Pudding

THE FOURTEENTH SURPRISE
The Punishment of the Purple Dragon




_The First Surprise_

THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF MO


I dare say there are several questions you would like to ask at the
very beginning of this history. First: Who is the Monarch of Mo? And
why is he called the Magical Monarch? And where _is_ Mo, anyhow? And
why have you never heard of it before? And can it be reached by a
railroad or a trolley-car, or must one walk all the way?

These questions I realize should be answered before we (that "we" means
you and the book) can settle down for a comfortable reading of all the
wonders and astonishing adventures I shall endeavor faithfully to
relate.

In the first place, the Monarch of Mo is a very pleasant personage
holding the rank of King. He is not very tall, nor is he very short; he
is midway between fat and lean; he is delightfully jolly when he is not
sad, and seldom sad if he can possibly be jolly. How old he may be I
have never dared to inquire; but when we realize that he is destined to
live as long as the Valley of Mo exists we may reasonably suppose the
Monarch of Mo is exactly as old as his native land. And no one in Mo
has ever reckoned up the years to see how many they have been. So we
will just say that the Monarch of Mo and the Valley of Mo are each a
part of the other, and can not be separated.

He is not called the Magical Monarch because he deals in magic--for he
doesn't deal in magic. But he leads such a queer life in such a queer
country that his history will surely seem magical to us who inhabit the
civilized places of the world and think that anything we can not find a
reason for must be due to magic. The life of the Monarch of Mo seems
simple enough to him, you may be sure, for he knows no other existence.
And our ways of living, could he know of them, would doubtless astonish
him greatly.

The land of Mo,