Chapter: Chapter XV. The Discovery of OZ, The Terrible.


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The four travellers walked up to the great gate of the Emerald City
and rang the bell. After ringing several times it was opened by the
same Guardian of the Gate they had met before.

"What! are you back again?" he asked, in surprise.

"Do you not see us?" answered the Scarecrow.

"But I thought you had gone to visit the Wicked Witch of the West."

"We did visit her," said the Scarecrow.

"And she let you go again?" asked the man, in wonder.

"She could not help it, for she is melted," explained the Scarecrow.

"Melted! Well, that is good news, indeed," said the man. "Who melted
her?"

"It was Dorothy," said the Lion, gravely.

"Good gracious!" exclaimed the man, and he bowed very low indeed
before her.

Then he led them into his little room and locked the spectacles
from the great box on all their eyes, just as he had done before.
Afterward they passed on through the gate into the Emerald City, and
when the people heard from the Guardian of the Gate that they had
melted the Wicked Witch of the West they all gathered around the
travellers and followed them in a great crowd to the Palace of Oz.

The soldier with the green whiskers was still on guard before the
door, but he let them in at once and they were again met by the
beautiful green girl, who showed each of them to their old rooms at
once, so they might rest until the Great Oz was ready to receive them.

The soldier had the news carried straight to Oz that Dorothy and the
other travellers had come back again, after destroying the Wicked
Witch; but Oz made no reply. They thought the Great Wizard would send
for them at once, but he did not. They had no word from him the next
day, nor the next, nor the next. The waiting was tiresome and wearing,
and at last they grew vexed that Oz should treat them in so poor a
fashion, after sending them to undergo hardships and slavery. So the
Scarecrow at last asked the green girl to take another message to Oz,
saying if he did not let them in to see him at once they would call the
Winged Monkeys to help them, and find out whether he kept his promises
or not. When the Wizard was given this message he was so frightened
that he sent word for them to come to the Throne Room at four minutes
after nine o'clock the next morning. He had once met the Winged Monkeys
in the Land of the West, and he did not wish to meet them again.

The four travellers passed a sleepless night, each thinking of the
gift Oz had promised to bestow upon him. Dorothy fell asleep only
once, and then she dreamed she was in Kansas, where Aunt Em was
telling her how glad she was to have her little girl at home again.

Promptly at nine o'clock the next morning the green whiskered soldier
came to them, and four minutes later they all went into the Throne
Room of the Great Oz.

Of course each one of them expected to see the Wizard in the shape
he had taken before, and all were greatly surprised when they looked
about and saw no one at all in the room. They kept close to the door
and closer to one another, for the stillness of the empty room was
more dreadful than any of the forms they had seen Oz take.

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Presently they heard a Voice, seeming to come from somewhere near
the top of the great dome, and it said, solemnly.

"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Why do you seek me?"

They looked again in every part of the room, and then, seeing no one,
Dorothy asked,

"Where are you?"

"I am everywhere," answered the Voice, "but to the eyes of common
mortals I am invisible. I will now seat myself upon my throne, that
you may converse with me." Indeed, the Voice seemed just then to come
straight from the throne itself; so they walked toward it and stood
in a row while Dorothy said:

"We have come to claim our promise, O Oz."

"What promise?" asked Oz.

"You promised to send me back to Kansas when the Wicked Witch was
destroyed," said the girl.

"And you promised to give me brains," said the Scarecrow.

"And you promised to give me a heart," said the Tin Woodman.

"And you promised to give me courage," said the Cowardly Lion.

"Is the Wicked Witch really destroyed?" asked the Voice, and Dorothy
thought it trembled a little.

"Yes," she answered, "I melted her with a bucket of water."

"Dear me," said the Voice; "how sudden! Well, come to me to-morrow,
for I must have time to think it over."

"You've had plenty of time already," said the Tin Woodman, angrily.

"We shan't wait a day longer," said the Scarecrow.

"You must keep your promises to us!" exclaimed Dorothy.

The Lion thought it might be as well to frighten the Wizard, so
he gave a large, loud roar, which was so fierce and dreadful that
Toto jumped away from him in alarm and tipped over the screen that
stood in a corner. As it fell with a crash they looked that way,
and the next moment all of them were filled with wonder. For they
saw, standing in just the spot the screen had hidden, a little, old
man, with a bald head and a wrinkled face, who seemed to be as much
surprised as they were. The Tin Woodman, raising his axe, rushed
toward the little man and cried out,

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"Who are you?"

"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible," said the little man, in a
trembling voice, "but don't strike me--please don't!--and I'll do
anything you want me to."

Our friends looked at him in surprise and dismay.

"I thought Oz was a great Head," said Dorothy.

"And I thought Oz was a lovely Lady," said the Scarecrow.

"And I thought Oz was a terrible Beast," said the Tin Woodman.

"And I thought Oz was a Ball of Fire," exclaimed the Lion.

"No; you are all wrong," said the little man, meekly. "I have been
making believe."

"Making believe!" cried Dorothy. "Are you not a great Wizard?"

"Hush, my dear," he said; "don't speak so loud, or you will be
overheard--and I should be ruined. I'm supposed to be a Great Wizard."

"And aren't you?" she asked.

"Not a bit of it, my dear; I'm just a common man."

"You're more than that," said the Scarecrow, in a grieved tone;
"you're a humbug."

"Exactly so!" declared the little man, rubbing his hands together as
if it pleased him; "I am a humbug."

"But this is terrible," said the Tin Woodman; "how shall I ever get
my heart?"

"Or I my courage?" asked the Lion.

"Or I my brains?" wailed the Scarecrow, wiping the the tears from his
eyes with his coat-sleeve.

[Illustration: "_Exactly so! I am a humbug._"]

"My dear friends," said Oz, "I pray you not to speak of these
little things. Think of me, and the terrible trouble I'm in at being
found out."

"Doesn't anyone else know you're a humbug?" asked Dorothy.

"No one knows it but you four--and myself," replied Oz. "I have
fooled everyone so long that I thought I should never be found out.
It was a great mistake my ever letting you into the Throne Room.
Usually I will not see even my subjects, and so they believe I am
something terrible."

"But, I don't understand," said Dorothy, in bewilderment. "How was it
that you appeared to me as a great Head?"

"That was one of my tricks," answered Oz. "Step this way, please, and
I will tell you all about it."

He led the way to a small chamber in the rear of the Throne Room,
and they all followed him. He pointed to one corner, in which lay
the Great Head, made out of many thicknesses of paper, and with a
carefully painted face.

"This I hung from the ceiling by a wire," said Oz; "I stood behind the
screen and pulled a thread, to make the eyes move and the mouth open."

"But how about the voice?" she enquired.

"Oh, I am a ventriloquist," said the little man, "and I can throw
the sound of my voice wherever I wish; so that you thought it was
coming out of the Head. Here are the other things I used to deceive
you." He showed the Scarecrow the dress and the mask he had worn when
he seemed to be the lovely Lady; and the Tin Woodman saw that his
Terrible Beast was nothing but a lot of skins, sewn together, with
slats to keep their sides out. As for the Ball of Fire, the false
Wizard had hung that also from the ceiling. It was really a ball of
cotton, but when oil was poured upon it the ball burned fiercely.

"Really," said the Scarecrow, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself
for being such a humbug."

"I am--I certainly am," answered the little man, sorrowfully; "but it
was the only thing I could do. Sit down, please, there are plenty of
chairs; and I will tell you my story."

So they sat down and listened while he told the following tale:

"I was born in Omaha--"

"Why, that isn't very far from Kansas!" cried Dorothy.

"No; but it's farther from here," he said, shaking his head at her,
sadly. "When I grew up I became a ventriloquist, and at that I was
very well trained by a great master. I can imitate any kind of a
bird or beast." Here he mewed so like a kitten that Toto pricked up
his ears and looked everywhere to see where she was. "After a time,"
continued Oz, "I tired of that, and became a balloonist."

"What is that?" asked Dorothy.

"A man who goes up in a balloon on circus day, so as to draw a crowd
of people together and get them to pay to see the circus," he explained.

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"Oh," she said; "I know."

"Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so
that I couldn't come down again. It went way up above the clouds, so
far that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many miles
away. For a day and a night I travelled through the air, and on the
morning of the second day I awoke and found the balloon floating over
a strange and beautiful country.

"It came down gradually, and I was not hurt a bit. But I found myself
in the midst of a strange people, who, seeing me come from the clouds,
thought I was a great Wizard. Of course I let them think so, because
they were afraid of me, and promised to do anything I wished them to.

"Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them to
build this City, and my palace; and they did it all willingly and well.
Then I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I would
call it the Emerald City, and to make the name fit better I put green
spectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green."

"But isn't everything here green?" asked Dorothy.

"No more than in any other city," replied Oz; "but when you wear
green spectacles, why of course everything you see looks green to
you. The Emerald City was built a great many years ago, for I was a
young man when the balloon brought me here, and I am a very old man
now. But my people have worn green glasses on their eyes so long that
most of them think it really is an Emerald City, and it certainly is
a beautiful place, abounding in jewels and precious metals, and every
good thing that is needed to make one happy. I have been good to the
people, and they like me; but ever since this Palace was built I have
shut myself up and would not see any of them.

"One of my greatest fears was the Witches, for while I had no magical
powers at all I soon found out that the Witches were really able to
do wonderful things. There were four of them in this country, and
they ruled the people who live in the North and South and East and
West. Fortunately, the Witches of the North and South were good, and
I knew they would do me no harm; but the Witches of the East and West
were terribly wicked, and had they not thought I was more powerful
than they themselves, they would surely have destroyed me. As it was,
I lived in deadly fear of them for many years; so you can imagine how
pleased I was when I heard your house had fallen on the Wicked Witch
of the East. When you came to me I was willing to promise anything if
you would only do away with the other Witch; but, now that you have
melted her, I am ashamed to say that I cannot keep my promises."

"I think you are a very bad man," said Dorothy.

"Oh, no, my dear; I'm really a very good man; but I'm a very bad
Wizard, I must admit."

"Can't you give me brains?" asked the Scarecrow.

"You don't need them. You are learning something every day. A baby
has brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is the only thing
that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more
experience you are sure to get."

"That may all be true," said the Scarecrow, "but I shall be very
unhappy unless you give me brains."

The false wizard looked at him carefully.

"Well," he said, with a sigh, "I'm not much of a magician, as I said;
but if you will come to me to-morrow morning, I will stuff your head
with brains. I cannot tell you how to use them, however; you must
find that out for yourself."

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"Oh, thank you--thank you!" cried the Scarecrow. "I'll find a way to
use them, never fear!"

"But how about my courage?" asked the Lion, anxiously.

"You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "All you need
is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not
afraid when it faces danger. True courage is in facing danger when
you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty."

"Perhaps I have, but I'm scared just the same," said the Lion. "I
shall really be very unhappy unless you give me the sort of courage
that makes one forget he is afraid."

"Very well; I will give you that sort of courage to-morrow," replied Oz.

"How about my heart?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"Why, as for that," answered Oz, "I think you are wrong to want a
heart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are in
luck not to have a heart."

"That must be a matter of opinion," said the Tin Woodman. "For my
part, I will bear all the unhappiness without a murmur, if you will
give me the heart."

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"Very well," answered Oz, meekly. "Come to me to-morrow and you shall
have a heart. I have played Wizard for so many years that I may as
well continue the part a little longer."

"And now," said Dorothy, "how am I to get back to Kansas?"

"We shall have to think about that," replied the little man, "Give
me two or three days to consider the matter and I'll try to find a
way to carry you over the desert. In the meantime you shall all be
treated as my guests, and while you live in the Palace my people
will wait upon you and obey your slightest wish. There is only one
thing I ask in return for my help--such as it is. You must keep my
secret and tell no one I am a humbug."

They agreed to say nothing of what they had learned, and went back to
their rooms in high spirits. Even Dorothy had hope that "The Great
and Terrible Humbug," as she called him, would find a way to send her
back to Kansas, and if he did that she was willing to forgive him
everything.

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 It's back to the Guardian of the Gates. He seems surprised to see the travelers back so soon. The Scarecrow explains that the witch is dead. The Guardian is super impressed. Everyone puts on their special glasses and heads into the Emerald City. The travelers are escorted back to their old rooms. They expect that Oz will want to see them at once, but he doesn't. In fact, days pass without word from the great wizard. Everyone's getting impatient, so the Scarecrow sends Oz a message that they'll call the Winged Monkeys if he doesn't see them soon. With a quickness, Oz issues an invitation for them to meet him in the throne room the next day. Morning comes, and the gang is excited. When they get to the throne room, they're surprised to see that no one's there. This time Oz appears as a disembodied voice. Dorothy says they're ready to be rewarded for having completed their mission. Oz is all like, what mission? She explains that she killed the witch and now she wants to return to Kansas, as promised. Oz tell them he needs time to think everything over, but the gang feels like they've waited long enough. To scare Oz, the Lion roars loudly, frightening Toto. Toto runs away and knocks down a screen. Suddenly a little old man comes into view. Wait, who's this guy? The gang is confused. Gradually, it becomes clear that Oz is just this little man, who's been tricking them. Dorothy and the others are angry. Oz asks them to hush. He doesn't want anyone to hear that he's a fraud. The gang is really worried about what this means for their rewards. Oz is worried that the people of his kingdom will find out that he's a man, not a wizard. He's kicking himself for allowing the gang into his throne room. Oz proceeds to show the travelers his bag of tricks, which includes a paper-mache head, a mask, and other disguises. He also explains that he's a ventriloquist. He threw his voice and used the props to create illusions. He goes on to explain his backstory. Turns out Oz is from Omaha, Nebraska. He used to work as a ventriloquist and a hot-air balloonist at the circus. One day, he lost control of his balloon. The next thing he knew, he was in Oz. The people of Oz assumed that he was a wizard since he had come from the sky. He didn't correct them, and has been posing as a powerful wizard ever since. After that, he ordered everyone to build the Emerald City...which isn't really green, by the way. People just think it's green because of the special glasses they have to wear. Oz secluded himself and didn't receive many visitors after that. He was afraid of the witches because he knew they had real power. That's why he sent Dorothy & Co. to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. He was afraid of her. Oz explains that, since he's a regular man, he can't do much about the brain, the heart, the courage, or Kansas. The group finds this unacceptable. Finally, Oz agrees to give the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion what they seek the following day. He might need a little extra time for Dorothy's wish, though. Meanwhile, the "wizard" begs the group to keep his secret. He's deathly afraid of being found out. The gang agrees. Dorothy will do about anything to get back to Kansas, even if it means forgiving such a deceitful man.

