The Forest of the Fighting Trees--Oz page 47

Hello lovelies! The last we left our companions everyone but Dorothy had gotten what they wanted.

Dorothy wept bitterly at the passing of her hope to get home to Kansas again; but when she thought it all over she was glad she had not gone up in a balloon. And she also felt sorry at losing Oz, and so did her companions.

The Tin Woodman came to her and said:

"Truly I should be ungrateful if I failed to mourn for the man who gave me my lovely heart. I should like to cry a little because Oz is gone, if you will kindly wipe away my tears, so that I shall not rust."

"With pleasure," she answered, and brought a towel at once. Then the Tin Woodman wept for several minutes, and she watched the tears carefully and wiped them away with the towel. When he had finished, he thanked her kindly and oiled himself thoroughly with his jewelled oil-can, to guard against mishap.

The Scarecrow was now the ruler of the Emerald City, and although he was not a Wizard the people were proud of him. "For," they said, "there is not another city in all the world that is ruled by a stuffed man." And, so far as they knew, they were quite right.

The morning after the balloon had gone up with Oz, the four travellers met in the Throne Room and talked matters over. The Scarecrow sat in the big throne and the others stood respectfully before him.

"We are not so unlucky," said the new ruler, "for this Palace and the Emerald City belong to us, and we can do just as we please. When I remember that a short time ago I was up on a pole in a farmer's cornfield, and that now I am the ruler of this beautiful City, I am quite satisfied with my lot."

"I also," said the Tin Woodman, "am well-pleased with my new heart; and, really, that was the only thing I wished in all the world."

"For my part, I am content in knowing I am as brave as any beast that ever lived, if not braver," said the Lion modestly.

"If Dorothy would only be contented to live in the Emerald City," continued the Scarecrow, "we might all be happy together."

"But I don't want to live here," cried Dorothy. "I want to go to Kansas, and live with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry."

The Scarecrow (who is getting a bit full of himself in my opinion) brainstorms ways to get Dorothy to Kansas. It is suggested that she use the Golden cap to call the Winged Monkeys to take her home. She does and they tell her "That cannot be done," he said. "We belong to this country alone, and cannot leave it. There has never been a Winged Monkey in Kansas yet, and I suppose there never will be, for they don't belong there. We shall be glad to serve you in any way in our power, but we cannot cross the desert. Good-bye." Note: It is made clear in later books that Oz is surrounded by four deserts—the Deadly Desert, The Shifting Sands, The Impassable Desert and the Great Sandy Waste. Dorothy flew over the Shifting Sands during the cyclone.

Dorothy is extremely disappointed to have wasted her last wish (remember you only get three times that you can use the charm of the Golden cap per person). They consult the Soldier with the green whiskers to ask his advice  and he suggests they go see Glinda. When they ask who is Glinda (remember they have not met her yet because in the book there are two witches. In the film they amalgamate the two into Glinda and make her from the North) he says:

"The Witch of the South. She is the most powerful of all the Witches, and rules over the Quadlings. Besides, her castle stands on the edge of the desert, so she may know a way to cross it." Note: that desert is the Great Sandy Waste.

"Glinda is a Good Witch, isn't she?" asked the child.

"The Quadlings think she is good," said the soldier, "and she is kind to everyone. I have heard that Glinda is a beautiful woman, who knows how to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived." Note: As a child I thought it was fascinating that Glinda “kept her wand in her bosom” and I could not wait to grow up and develop boobs so I could keep stuff down there.

"How can I get to her castle?" asked Dorothy.

"The road is straight to the South," he answered, "but it is said to be full of dangers to travellers. There are wild beasts in the woods, and a race of queer men who do not like strangers to cross their country. For this reason none of the Quadlings ever come to the Emerald City." Foreshadowing!!

So our travellers set off for the South. In the film the Fighting Trees are a sort of comic relief. They speak with a gruff voice and are tricked into throwing their apples at Dorothy so she can eat one (although why she would want to as they will be all bruised.) I often thought by making the apple trees in the film that it was a reference to the book and all the fruit trees that Dorothy ate from on their journey to the Emerald City. The Forest of the Fighting Trees in the book really disturbed me as a child. I think I became someone who literally hugged trees after reading this. For my illustration I made a tree with branches that could fold in like they were grabbing you. I backed the page with some more of that splendid Eric Carle tissue paper. 

The branches from the side--slightly awkward, but shows you how they fold in.

In the morning they travelled on until they came to a thick wood. There was no way of going around it, for it seemed to extend to the right and left as far as they could see; and, besides, they did not dare change the direction of their journey for fear of getting lost. So they looked for the place where it would be easiest to get into the forest.

The Scarecrow, who was in the lead, finally discovered a big tree with such wide-spreading branches that there was room for the party to pass underneath. So he walked forward to the tree, but just as he came under the first branches they bent down and twined around him, and the next minute he was raised from the ground and flung headlong among his fellow travellers.

This did not hurt the Scarecrow, but it surprised him, and he looked rather dizzy when Dorothy picked him up.

"Here is another space between the trees," called the Lion.

"Let me try it first," said the Scarecrow, "for it doesn't hurt me to get thrown about." He walked up to another tree, as he spoke, but its branches immediately seized him and tossed him back again.

"This is strange," exclaimed Dorothy. "What shall we do?"

"The trees seem to have made up their minds to fight us, and stop our journey," remarked the Lion.

"I believe I will try it myself," said the Woodman, and shouldering his axe, he marched up to the first tree that had handled the Scarecrow so roughly. When a big branch bent down to seize him the Woodman chopped at it so fiercely that he cut it in two. At once the tree began shaking all its branches as if in pain, and the Tin Woodman passed safely under it. Note: this really upset me as a child. For years I watched closely as my mother the gardener pruned any plant back looking for signs that it was in distress. There is a Roald Dahl short story called The Sound Machine that deals with this.

"Come on!" he shouted to the others. "Be quick!" They all ran forward and passed under the tree without injury, except Toto, who was caught by a small branch and shaken until he howled. But the Woodman promptly chopped off the branch and set the little dog free.

The other trees of the forest did nothing to keep them back, so they made up their minds that only the first row of trees could bend down their branches, and that probably these were the policemen of the forest, and given this wonderful power in order to keep strangers out of it.

The four travellers walked with ease through the trees until they came to the farther edge of the wood. Then, to their surprise, they found before them a high wall which seemed to be made of white china. It was smooth, like the surface of a dish, and higher than their heads.

"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy.

"I will make a ladder," said the Tin Woodman, "for we certainly must climb over the wall.

This leads us to our next adventure in China Country. Something definitely not from the film! It was such a favourite part for me as a child I have devoted three illustrations to it.