The Lion Defeats the Giant Spider--Oz pages 51-52

Hello lovelies! Here comes another part of Oz that you will have never heard of if you only know the film. The film gives the Lion an extra solo (If I Were the King of the Forest) with those ridiculous trills. That song is a very low point in the film for me. But here they make him actual king of the forest by having him fight and kill a giant spider. Yup, you read that right.

After climbing down from the china wall the travellers found themselves in a disagreeable country, full of bogs and marshes and covered with tall, rank grass. It was difficult to walk without falling into muddy holes, for the grass was so thick that it hid them from sight. However, by carefully picking their way, they got safely along until they reached solid ground. But here the country seemed wilder than ever, and after a long and tiresome walk through the underbrush they entered another forest, where the trees were bigger and older than any they had ever seen.

"This forest is perfectly delightful," declared the Lion, looking around him with joy. "Never have I seen a more beautiful place."

"It seems gloomy," said the Scarecrow.

"Not a bit of it," answered the Lion. "I should like to live here all my life. See how soft the dried leaves are under your feet and how rich and green the moss is that clings to these old trees. Surely no wild beast could wish a pleasanter home."

"Perhaps there are wild beasts in the forest now," said Dorothy.

"I suppose there are," returned the Lion, "but I do not see any of them about."

They walked through the forest until it became too dark to go any farther. Dorothy and Toto and the Lion lay down to sleep, while the Woodman and the Scarecrow kept watch over them as usual.

When morning came, they started again. Before they had gone far they heard a low rumble, as of the growling of many wild animals. Toto whimpered a little, but none of the others was frightened, and they kept along the well-trodden path until they came to an opening in the wood, in which were gathered hundreds of beasts of every variety. There were tigers and elephants and bears and wolves and foxes and all the others in the natural history, and for a moment Dorothy was afraid. But the Lion explained that the animals were holding a meeting, and he judged by their snarling and growling that they were in great trouble. Note: Interesting selection of wild animals, Mister Baum!

As he spoke several of the beasts caught sight of him, and at once the great assemblage hushed as if by magic. The biggest of the tigers came up to the Lion and bowed, saying:

"Welcome, O King of Beasts! You have come in good time to fight our enemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forest once more."

"What is your trouble?" asked the Lion quietly.

"We are all threatened," answered the tiger, "by a fierce enemy which has lately come into this forest. It is a most tremendous monster, like a great spider, with a body as big as an elephant and legs as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of these long legs, and as the monster crawls through the forest he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it to his mouth, where he eats it as a spider does a fly. Not one of us is safe while this fierce creature is alive, and we had called a meeting to decide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us."

The Lion thought for a moment.

"Are there any other lions in this forest?" he asked.

"No; there were some, but the monster has eaten them all. And, besides, they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you."

"If I put an end to your enemy, will you bow down to me and obey me as King of the Forest?" inquired the Lion.

"We will do that gladly," returned the tiger; and all the other beasts roared with a mighty roar: "We will!"

"Where is this great spider of yours now?" asked the Lion.

"Yonder, among the oak trees," said the tiger, pointing with his forefoot.

"Take good care of these friends of mine," said the Lion, "and I will go at once to fight the monster."

He bade his comrades good-bye and marched proudly away to do battle with the enemy.

This is my illustration. I found this cool animal print tissue paper at Poundland and thought it would be perfect for the backdrop for a variety of wild animals in the great forest. I carefully cut into the right shapes and then promptly ran out of gluestick and so had to wait until today to finish. Most of the book is stuck together with PVA glue (Elmer's glue to my American peeps) but liquid glue is to wet for tissue paper and so i used gluestick.  I made the giant spider by printing a picture of a tarantula and then giving it a longer slim neck and making a head on it with a row of sharp teeth a foot long. I also used jewels for eyes to make them look like they glittered in the dark.

The great spider was lying asleep when the Lion found him, and it looked so ugly that its foe turned up his nose in disgust. Its legs were quite as long as the tiger had said, and its body covered with coarse black hair. It had a great mouth, with a row of sharp teeth a foot long; but its head was joined to the pudgy body by a neck as slender as a wasp's waist. This gave the Lion a hint of the best way to attack the creature, and as he knew it was easier to fight it asleep than awake, he gave a great spring and landed directly upon the monster's back. Then, with one blow of his heavy paw, all armed with sharp claws, he knocked the spider's head from its body. Jumping down, he watched it until the long legs stopped wiggling, when he knew it was quite dead.

The Lion went back to the opening where the beasts of the forest were waiting for him and said proudly:

"You need fear your enemy no longer."

Then the beasts bowed down to the Lion as their King, and he promised to come back and rule over them as soon as Dorothy was safely on her way to Kansas.

I made the second illustration a pocket story as the tale of the giant spider and its unusual description were worth reading.

Stay tuned for the Hammerheads!

The Dainty China Country--Oz pages 48-50

Hello lovelies! This was always one of my favourite chapters in the book. It does not appear in the film, but there is a nod to it in the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful where there is a girl made out of china whose village and family were destroyed by the wicked witch. This was such a favourite chapter for me that I decided to do three illustrations for it.

Here are my three illustrations:

While the Woodman was making a ladder from wood which he found in the forest Dorothy lay down and slept, for she was tired by the long walk. The Lion also curled himself up to sleep and Toto lay beside him.

The Scarecrow watched the Woodman while he worked, and said to him:

"I cannot think why this wall is here, nor what it is made of."

"Rest your brains and do not worry about the wall," replied the Woodman. "When we have climbed over it, we shall know what is on the other side."

After a time the ladder was finished. It looked clumsy, but the Tin Woodman was sure it was strong and would answer their purpose. The Scarecrow waked Dorothy and the Lion and Toto  and told them that the ladder was ready. The Scarecrow climbed up the ladder first, but he was so awkward that Dorothy had to follow close behind and keep him from falling off. When he got his head over the top of the wall the Scarecrow said, "Oh, my!"

"Go on," exclaimed Dorothy.

So the Scarecrow climbed farther up and sat down on the top of the wall, and Dorothy put her head over and cried, "Oh, my!" just as the Scarecrow had done.

Then Toto came up, and immediately began to bark, but Dorothy made him be still.

The Lion climbed the ladder next, and the Tin Woodman came last; but both of them cried, "Oh, my!" as soon as they looked over the wall. When they were all sitting in a row on the top of the wall, they looked down and saw a strange sight.

Before them was a great stretch of country having a floor as smooth and shining and white as the bottom of a big platter. Scattered around were many houses made entirely of china and painted in the brightest colours. These houses were quite small, the biggest of them reaching only as high as Dorothy's waist. There were also pretty little barns, with china fences around them; and many cows and sheep and horses and pigs and chickens, all made of china, were standing about in groups.

But the strangest of all were the people who lived in this queer country. There were milkmaids and shepherdesses, with brightly coloured bodices and golden spots all over their gowns; and princesses with most gorgeous frocks of silver and gold and purple; and shepherds dressed in knee breeches with pink and yellow and blue stripes down them, and golden buckles on their shoes; and princes with jewelled crowns upon their heads, wearing ermine robes and satin doublets; and funny clowns in ruffled gowns, with round red spots upon their cheeks and tall, pointed caps. And, strangest of all, these people were all made of china, even to their clothes, and were so small that the tallest of them was no higher than Dorothy's knee.

No one did so much as look at the travellers at first, except one little purple china dog with an extra-large head, which came to the wall and barked at them in a tiny voice, afterwards running away again.

"How shall we get down?" asked Dorothy.

They found the ladder so heavy they could not pull it up, so the Scarecrow fell off the wall and the others jumped down upon him so that the hard floor would not hurt their feet. Of course they took pains not to light on his head and get the pins in their feet. When all were safely down they picked up the Scarecrow, whose body was quite flattened out, and patted his straw into shape again. Note: I love this attention to detail. Having stepped on an earring as a child (that bloody hurts!) I would not want to jump from a distance and land on a pin either. I love the detail about patting his straw back into shape again

"We must cross this strange place in order to get to the other side," said Dorothy, "for it would be unwise for us to go any other way except due South."

They began walking through the country of the china people, and the first thing they came to was a china milkmaid milking a china cow. As they drew near, the cow suddenly gave a kick and kicked over the stool, the pail, and even the milkmaid herself, and all fell on the china ground with a great clatter.

Dorothy was shocked to see that the cow had broken her leg off, and that the pail was lying in several small pieces, while the poor milkmaid had a nick in her left elbow.

"There!" cried the milkmaid angrily. "See what you have done! My cow has broken her leg, and I must take her to the mender's shop and have it glued on again. What do you mean by coming here and frightening my cow?"

"I'm very sorry," returned Dorothy. "Please forgive us."

But the pretty milkmaid was much too vexed to make any answer. She picked up the leg sulkily and led her cow away, the poor animal limping on three legs. As she left them the milkmaid cast many reproachful glances over her shoulder at the clumsy strangers, holding her nicked elbow close to her side.

Dorothy was quite grieved at this mishap.

Note: This was almost the first illustration, but I could never find a china cow that I liked as a model.

"We must be very careful here," said the kind-hearted Woodman, "or we may hurt these pretty little people so they will never get over it."

A little farther on Dorothy met a most beautifully dressed young Princess, who stopped short as she saw the strangers and started to run away.

 This is my first illustration. I backed the page with some Eric Carle tissue paper and I used a colouring page of a Barbie doll as my model. I carefully cut away her dress and traced it on some Swiss-dotted baby pink paper and glued it back on. I used the gold wrapping paper for her crown and belt. I purposely chose a Barbie for this as I wanted something that had a look of vanity and unrealistic expectations. There was a small hayfever related incident when I was cutting out the tiny details (don’t use scissors and sneeze, kids!) where I slightly cut through her right arm and made it thinner than it was meant to be when I was just trying to separate it from her body. I managed to repair it after some swearing and tears. Her arm still looks a little thin—but it reminded me of those celebrity selfies that have been photoshopped and you can tell because the wall behind them is wavy or one of their limbs is stretched out weird. That seemed appropriate, so I left it in.   

Dorothy wanted to see more of the Princess, so she ran after her. But the china girl cried out:

"Don't chase me! Don't chase me!"

She had such a frightened little voice that Dorothy stopped and said, "Why not?"

"Because," answered the Princess, also stopping, a safe distance away, "if I run I may fall down and break myself."

"But could you not be mended?" asked the girl.

"Oh, yes; but one is never so pretty after being mended, you know," replied the Princess.

"I suppose not," said Dorothy.

This is illustration number two. I always loved this cheeky joker. He is called a clown and I looked for pictures of clowns that I could cut into pieces, but ultimately decided on a harlequin. I ran him off on red paper and then carefully cut out the pieces in other colours and refitted him again like a jigsaw. I managed to salvage the text in the quote from a piece of laminating that didn’t survive, so was able to get the broken harlequin effect on the words as well.

"Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns," continued the china lady, "who is always trying to stand upon his head. He has broken himself so often that he is mended in a hundred places, and doesn't look at all pretty. Here he comes now, so you can see for yourself."

Indeed, a jolly little clown came walking toward them, and Dorothy could see that in spite of his pretty clothes of red and yellow and green he was completely covered with cracks, running every which way and showing plainly that he had been mended in many places.

The Clown put his hands in his pockets, and after puffing out his cheeks and nodding his head at them saucily, he said:

"My lady fair,
   Why do you stare
At poor old Mr. Joker?
    You're quite as stiff
And prim as if
    You'd eaten up a poker!"

"Be quiet, sir!" said the Princess. "Can't you see these are strangers, and should be treated with respect?"

"Well, that's respect, I expect," declared the Clown, and immediately stood upon his head.

"Don't mind Mr. Joker," said the Princess to Dorothy. "He is considerably cracked in his head, and that makes him foolish."

"Oh, I don't mind him a bit," said Dorothy. "But you are so beautiful," she continued, "that I am sure I could love you dearly. Won't you let me carry you back to Kansas, and stand you on Aunt Em's mantel? I could carry you in my basket."

"That would make me very unhappy," answered the china Princess. "You see, here in our country we live contentedly, and can talk and move around as we please. But whenever any of us are taken away our joints at once stiffen, and we can only stand straight and look pretty. Of course that is all that is expected of us when we are on mantels and cabinets and drawing-room tables, but our lives are much pleasanter here in our own country."

"I would not make you unhappy for all the world!" exclaimed Dorothy. "So I'll just say good-bye."

"Good-bye," replied the Princess. Note: I always found this exchange interesting. Baum has a lot to say on things like slavery, women's rights and prison reform in later books as well. But it made me always look at little china figurines I had (I had a beautiful December angel china statue that I loved because she had brown hair like me) and wonder would they be happier in Oz where they could roam free.

They walked carefully through the china country. The little animals and all the people scampered out of their way, fearing the strangers would break them, and after an hour or so the travellers reached the other side of the country and came to another china wall.

It was not so high as the first, however, and by standing upon the Lion's back they all managed to scramble to the top. Then the Lion gathered his legs under him and jumped on the wall; but just as he jumped, he upset a china church with his tail and smashed it all to pieces.

This is my third illustration. I coloured in the church after printing it on coloured paper and then broke it into three pieces. I used the gold wrapping paper to make the cross and then I sewed the Lion’s tail from felt.

"That was too bad," said Dorothy, "but really I think we were lucky in not doing these little people more harm than breaking a cow's leg and a church. They are all so brittle!"

"They are, indeed," said the Scarecrow, "and I am thankful I am made of straw and cannot be easily damaged. There are worse things in the world than being a Scarecrow."

Wasn’t that cool? I love China Country. There are so many delightful little places like this in later Oz books like Bunbury where everyone is made of bread products like buns and cakes and Bunnybury where everyone is giant rabbits in waistcoats. Wait until the next illustration where we meet the giant spider—definitely not from the book!

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.

Fairy Tale Friday--The Jealous Mother (Morocco)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I’ll begin.

This week we look at a tale from Morocco. I will be honest--it has been harder to find versions of Snow White out there for free. Every time I come across an interesting sounding one it is not in the public domain. Luckily, there is a blog called Crafty Moms Share that gives really good in depth summaries of unusual fairy tales which I will be using over the next few weeks.

This story entitled The Jealous Mother from Moroccan Folktales translated from the Arabic by Jilali El Koudia. This is a book I would like very much to read.

Worldcat.org has this to say about it:

The folktales collected here provide a glimpse into Morocco's rich past and cultural heritage. Drawing on stories he heard as a boy from female relatives, Jilali El Koudia presents a cross section of utterly bewitching narratives. Filled with ghouls and fools, kind magic and wicked, eternal bonds and earthly wishes, these are mesmerizing stories to be savored, studied, or simply treasured. Varied genres include anecdotes, legends, and animal fables. Many of the included tales bear some strong resemblance to European counterparts, for example "Aamar and His Sister" (Hansel and Gretel) and "Nunja and the White Dove" (Cinderella). All capture the heart of Morocco and the soul of its people.

This story begins with the moon taking place the place of the magic mirror. Usually these tales involve a child that has already been born and while the mother or stepmother figure was once the most beautiful is no longer after the daughter grows up. In this case the moon says that her unborn child is more beautiful than she is, so the poor daughter never stood a chance. She tells the midwife to bury the baby alive and replace it with a puppy. Luckily, the midwife brings the baby home and raises her instead of killing her. Sadly, the puppy also gets discarded.

Later when everyone keeps bragging about the midwife’s daughter being such a stunner, the mother asks to meet her to see for herself. In a sort of cross between Hansel and Gretel leaving a trail of breadcrumbs and Ariadne giving Theseus a ball of yarn to find his way out of the labyrinth we find our young heroine lost in the Land of Ghouls with no way out. She hides in the thatch roof of a family of seven ghoul brothers. They have a female slave that cooks for them. Our heroine Lalla is discovered and the youngest ghoul takes a fancy to her. The text says: The brother was kind and gentle and when he looked in her eyes, he fell in love with her. The next day the brothers held a wedding ceremony for them. Now, he may have been the least ghoulish of the ghouls being the kind and gentle one, but he is still a ghoul. And nowhere here do we see what Lalla wanted. Did she want to marry him? Or did she feel there was no choice because she had to exchange her body for room and board? Or perhaps she was happy proving that looks are not important, but kindness and gentleness are everything.

This attention  makes the slave jealous because before this she had received all their attention. Attention from ghouls is better than no attention at all. In a scene reminiscent of Baba Yaga, Lalla has to go ask a neighbouring ghoul for fire as the slave has let the light go out. He agrees but insists on a blood offering. The next day he followed the [trail of] blood to her and forced her to allow him to suck her blood from her finger or he would eat her. He did this every day. When this gruesome act is discovered, the brothers murder both the neighbour and the slave, but blame her Lalla for letting him in.

Later a travelling Jewish pedlar comes by. I do not know why it was important to mention he was a Jew. Her birth mother hears that her daughter is the Queen of the Ghouls and sends a ring back to her daughter through the pedlar. The instructions are to put the ring under her tongue which seems to me a very odd thing to do with a ring. But Lalla does and predictably drops down dead. Her body is paraded around on a type of sofa on the back of a camel until a Sultan sees it and falls in love with her beauty. There is no marriage or improper activities with her dead body in this tale, thankfully. The Sultan’s physician examines her straightaway, removes the ring and the Sultan marries her. Again, we see nothing of her feelings on the matter. The fact that she was already married didn’t even occur to him. Did she want to marry this guy who woke her from her death? We know nothing about his character—Is he kind? Is he gentle like her ghoul husband? Or is he just rich and can take what he wants? Is this the happy ending every girl dreams of or is this a nightmare?

Well, in an ending that reminded me of Beauty and the Beast Lalla runs away from the Sultan and back to the land of Ghouls where her husband and true family await. I was pleasantly surprised that she was able to make some choices about her own happiness and so many female characters in fairy tales never get to. And it was particularly gratifying that she chose kindness and gentleness over wealth and prestige. Sadly, we don’t get to see any revenge on her mother who tried to have her buried alive at birth.

Source

The Jealous Mother source

This version has a beautiful mother who talks to the moon. The moon tells her that the child in her womb is more beautiful and of course the mother gets jealous. The mother has the trusted midwife bury the baby as soon as it is born and to replace it with a puppy dog. The mother paid the midwife a great deal of gold to do this. The midwife produced a puppy, but she took the girl away and secluded her inside her own house and took care of her. 

The husband of the beautiful woman was ashamed when he saw God had given them a puppy dog and threw the dog away. The midwife raised the baby as her own and named her Lalla Khallalt El Khoudra. She grew to be very beautiful and people would compare any woman's beauty to that of Lalla. Her birth mother heard of her and asked the midwife to send her over to help her untangle her ball of yarn. 

When the birth mother saw the girl she was overcome with jealousy. She gave the girl the ball of yarn and told her to walk until it was untangled. The girl ended up in the land of ghouls. Her mother cut the yarn when she guessed Lalla had walked that far. Lalla could not find her way home and night had fallen. When she saw all the strange creatures in the land, she guessed she had entered the land the midwife had told her about and she was afraid she would be eaten alive. She hid herself in a thatch roof. The house that she chose to hide in was one of seven ghoul brothers. They had a slave to cook for them. Every morning the ghouls went out to hunt and the slave remained to prepare their food. The slave heard something on the roof and saw the beautiful woman. Lalla begged her for food and drink. She gave her some but advised her to stay hidden from the owners. Lalla repeated this every day. She would join the slave and help her prepare the food and then hide herself again. The brothers noticed a difference in the food. They wanted to figure out what was happening, so they had the youngest brother stay behind hidden to see what the slave was up to. 

The youngest brother stayed hidden but saw the slave and Lalla cooking together. Then he jumped out. Lalla was scared, but the brother was kind and gentle and when he looked in her eyes, he fell in love with her. The next day the brothers held a wedding ceremony for them. With the presence of Lalla all the brothers were happy. Lalla took over the care of the brothers. The slave became neglected, but she made Lalla promise her that they would always share everything equally.

One day Lalla tried to wake the slave to share a bean with her. Since the slave pretended to be asleep, Lalla put the half bean away, but it was lost when she tried to find it for the slave later. The slave was very angry and took revenge later by putting the fire out. Lalla had to go to a neighbour to ask for fire. She went to the ghoul next door, but he insisted on cutting her for the fire. She allowed him to do it and she dripped blood home. The next day he followed the blood to her and forced her to allow him to suck her blood from her finger or he would eat her. He did this every day.

The brothers began to notice the changes in their food and in Lalla. They did not understand why she did not seem happy when they showered her with gold, silver and jewels. The youngest brother stayed home to find out what was happening. He saw the neighbour come and drink her blood. He waited for his brothers and they decided they would all stay home the next day. They captured the neighbour and set to kill him and then turned on Lalla for allowing him to visit. She wept and told them the whole story and they threw the slave into the pit with the neighbour and set them on fire. 

Awhile later a salesman who is referred to in the story as a Jew came selling his wares. Lalla came out and chose some and then gave him a large bag of silver and gold. She asked if he knew a certain tribe and he said he did and she sent a message to her mother through him.

A few months later, he was with that tribe and her birth mother was purchasing things from him. She paid with a few balls of wool. He made a comment about how she did not pay like Lalla and the mother asked for more details since she was her mother. He told her how she was like a queen to the ghouls. The mother ran to  find a gift to send to Lalla and she wrapped a ring in a cloth and asked the salesman to give it to her next time he saw her.

In two months the salesman returned to the land of ghouls and saw Lalla. She bought some of his wares and he gave her the gift her mother sent telling her she suggested she put the ring under her tongue. She said she would and after the salesman left, she did. She became in a deathlike state and the ghouls came home that evening and found her frozen in the spot. They were so sad. They built her an attoush (a sofa like thing) and put it on a camel. The camel was told to go everywhere and stop for no one unless she heard her code name which was Naala or a shoe. The camel rode everywhere and eventually wandered into a kingdom of a rich and famous sultan. His guards told him about the camel with gold and silver on it and he wanted to catch it. The camel outsmarted the guards, but an old woman promised to get it and then lost her shoe and the camel stopped when she heard the woman yell about her shoe. 

When the sultan saw Lalla, he fell in love with her. He had his physicians examine her. When they found the ring under her tongue, they removed it and she slowly came back to life. The sultan married her. She however never forgot her seven ghoul brothers. When the camel had healed after all the walking, Lalla made plans to return. She waited until her husband would be gone for the day and she left, but the guards saw her and the sultan told them to follow her. The camel however once again outsmarted them. Lalla returned to her griefstruck brothers and they were all happy again.

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned next week for a tale with seven ogres.

 

 

Brains, a Heart, Courage and a Balloon--Oz pages 45-46

Hello lovelies! Here are the next illustrations from my Oz book. Now, if you have only seen the film then you may need to strap on your seatbelt because this is completely different. I have always loved these descriptions but understand why they chose other gifts for the film. But these are far more interesting and inventive than a diploma, a  clock and a medal.

Next morning the Scarecrow said to his friends:

"Congratulate me. I am going to Oz to get my brains at last. When I return I shall be as other men are."

"I have always liked you as you were," said Dorothy simply.

"It is kind of you to like a Scarecrow," he replied. "But surely you will think more of me when you hear the splendid thoughts my new brain is going to turn out." Then he said good-bye to them all in a cheerful voice and went to the Throne Room, where he rapped upon the door.

"Come in," said Oz.

The Scarecrow went in and found the little man sitting down by the window, engaged in deep thought.

"I have come for my brains," remarked the Scarecrow, a little uneasily.

"Oh, yes; sit down in that chair, please," replied Oz. "You must excuse me for taking your head off, but I shall have to do it in order to put your brains in their proper place."

"That's all right," said the Scarecrow. "You are quite welcome to take my head off, as long as it will be a better one when you put it on again."

So the Wizard unfastened his head and emptied out the straw. Then he entered the back room and took up a measure of bran, which he mixed with a great many pins and needles. Having shaken them together thoroughly, he filled the top of the Scarecrow's head with the mixture and stuffed the rest of the space with straw, to hold it in place.

When he had fastened the Scarecrow's head on his body again he said to him, "Hereafter you will be a great man, for I have given you a lot of bran-new brains." Note: This is a TERRIBLE pun.

The Scarecrow was both pleased and proud at the fulfilment of his greatest wish and having thanked Oz warmly he went back to his friends.

Dorothy looked at him curiously. His head was quite bulged out at the top with brains.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"I feel wise indeed," he answered earnestly. "When I get used to my brains I shall know everything."

"Why are those needles and pins sticking out of your head?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"That is proof that he is sharp," remarked the Lion.

This is my first illustration. Apart from the terrible bran-new brain pun—I adore the play on words of the pins and needles making him sharp. Why bran-new is stupid, and sharp is clever I cannot say. But for this illustration I sewed a head for the Scarecrow out of what the British call calico and the American’s call muslin (and calico is what I think of as what someone on Little House on the Prairie might wear, but not here). I drew the face (carefully drawing one eye bigger than the other) and then even more carefully stuck real sewing pins in his head and secured them on the back with duck tape so they wouldn’t come out.  

"Well, I must go to Oz and get my heart," said the Woodman. So he walked to the Throne Room and knocked at the door.

"Come in," called Oz, and the Woodman entered and said, "I have come for my heart."

"Very well," answered the little man. "But I shall have to cut a hole in your breast, so I can put your heart in the right place. I hope it won't hurt you."

"Oh, no," answered the Woodman. "I shall not feel it at all."

So Oz brought a pair of tinsmith's shears and cut a small, square hole in the left side of the Tin Woodman's breast. Then, going to a chest of drawers, he took out a pretty heart, made entirely of silk and stuffed with sawdust.

This is my second illustration. Now I did a bit of a cheat and an homage to my favourite of the Oz books The Patchwork Girl of Oz. The story says it was a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, but I had this wonderful 3D plastic jewelled heart. It looks *just* like the ruby heart that the Glass Cat had (she also had pink brains and was fond of saying “you could see ‘em work”). Naturally, I had to use the more extravagant heart even though I know it will cause me trouble down the line with pages not laying flat. They don’t lay flat anyway, so what is a bit of extra bulk, right?

Here it is up close. I immediately thought of you Mum—you will be the only person I know who knows who the Glass Cat is.

"Isn't it a beauty?" he asked.

"It is, indeed!" replied the Woodman, who was greatly pleased. "But is it a kind heart?"

"Oh, very!" answered Oz. He put the heart in the Woodman's breast and then replaced the square of tin, soldering it neatly together where it had been cut.

"There," said he; "now you have a heart that any man might be proud of. I'm sorry I had to put a patch on your breast, but it really couldn't be helped."

"Never mind the patch," exclaimed the happy Woodman. "I am very grateful to you, and shall never forget your kindness."

"Don't speak of it," replied Oz.

Then the Tin Woodman went back to his friends, who wished him every joy on account of his good fortune.

The Lion now walked to the Throne Room and knocked at the door.

"Come in," said Oz.

"I have come for my courage," announced the Lion, entering the room.

"Very well," answered the little man; "I will get it for you."

He went to a cupboard and reaching up to a high shelf took down a square green bottle, the contents of which he poured into a green-gold dish, beautifully carved. Placing this before the Cowardly Lion, who sniffed at it as if he did not like it, the Wizard said:

"Drink."

And here we have an even funnier pun. It’s liquid courage, geddit? If you don’t, then you need to know that liquid courage is a term that means alcohol. I wanted to make the bottle have a glassy look and so I carefully glued down some green cellophane (the same I used to make the lens in the green tinted spectacles) and added a gold label and stopper from some lovely wrapping paper I had saved.

"What is it?" asked the Lion.

"Well," answered Oz, "if it were inside of you, it would be courage. You know, of course, that courage is always inside one; so that this really cannot be called courage until you have swallowed it. Therefore I advise you to drink it as soon as possible."

The Lion hesitated no longer, but drank till the dish was empty.

"How do you feel now?" asked Oz.

"Full of courage," replied the Lion, who went joyfully back to his friends to tell them of his good fortune.

Oz, left to himself, smiled to think of his success in giving the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion exactly what they thought they wanted. "How can I help being a humbug," he said, "when all these people make me do things that everybody knows can't be done? It was easy to make the Scarecrow and the Lion and the Woodman happy, because they imagined I could do anything. But it will take more than imagination to carry Dorothy back to Kansas, and I'm sure I don't know how it can be done."

For three days Dorothy heard nothing from Oz. These were sad days for the little girl, although her friends were all quite happy and contented. The Scarecrow told them there were wonderful thoughts in his head; but he would not say what they were because he knew no one could understand them but himself. When the Tin Woodman walked about he felt his heart rattling around in his breast; and he told Dorothy he had discovered it to be a kinder and more tender heart than the one he had owned when he was made of flesh. The Lion declared he was afraid of nothing on earth, and would gladly face an army or a dozen of the fierce Kalidahs. Note: Basically, everyone becomes insufferable after receiving their gifts. Or is that just me?

Thus each of the little party was satisfied except Dorothy, who longed more than ever to get back to Kansas.

On the fourth day, to her great joy, Oz sent for her, and when she entered the Throne Room he greeted her pleasantly:

"Sit down, my dear; I think I have found the way to get you out of this country."

"And back to Kansas?" she asked eagerly.

"Well, I'm not sure about Kansas," said Oz, "for I haven't the faintest notion which way it lies. But the first thing to do is to cross the desert, and then it should be easy to find your way home."

"How can I cross the desert?" she inquired.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think," said the little man. "You see, when I came to this country it was in a balloon. You also came through the air, being carried by a cyclone. So I believe the best way to get across the desert will be through the air. Now, it is quite beyond my powers to make a cyclone; but I've been thinking the matter over, and I believe I can make a balloon."

"How?" asked Dorothy.

"A balloon," said Oz, "is made of silk, which is coated with glue to keep the gas in it. I have plenty of silk in the Palace, so it will be no trouble to make the balloon. But in all this country there is no gas to fill the balloon with, to make it float."

"If it won't float," remarked Dorothy, "it will be of no use to us."

"True," answered Oz. "But there is another way to make it float, which is to fill it with hot air. Hot air isn't as good as gas, for if the air should get cold the balloon would come down in the desert, and we should be lost." Note: I always loved the way Baum explained things. I did always think in the film where did they get a balloon at such short notice and how did it float?

"We!" exclaimed the girl. "Are you going with me?"

"Yes, of course," replied Oz. "I am tired of being such a humbug. If I should go out of this Palace my people would soon discover I am not a Wizard, and then they would be vexed with me for having deceived them. So I have to stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome. I'd much rather go back to Kansas with you and be in a circus again."

"I shall be glad to have your company," said Dorothy.

"Thank you," he answered. "Now, if you will help me sew the silk together, we will begin to work on our balloon."

This is my last illustration. I did not have three colours of green after my laminator ate it all, so made do with two shades in the balloon. I used real embroidery floss for the ropes. I also really loved as a child the attention to detail Baum gives to the making of the balloon. As someone who always likes to know HOW things work, the next passage is a treat.

So Dorothy took a needle and thread, and as fast as Oz cut the strips of silk into proper shape the girl sewed them neatly together. First there was a strip of light green silk, then a strip of dark green and then a strip of emerald green; for Oz had a fancy to make the balloon in different shades of the colour about them. It took three days to sew all the strips together, but when it was finished they had a big bag of green silk more than twenty feet long.

Then Oz painted it on the inside with a coat of thin glue, to make it airtight, after which he announced that the balloon was ready.

"But we must have a basket to ride in," he said. So he sent the soldier with the green whiskers for a big clothes basket, which he fastened with many ropes to the bottom of the balloon. Note:  I can completely picture what sort of basket this is. I have never seen one in real life, but they appear in lots of films and TV shows (there is a whole episode of Fawlty Towers that revolves around a basket like this.)

When it was all ready, Oz sent word to his people that he was going to make a visit to a great brother Wizard who lived in the clouds. The news spread rapidly throughout the city and everyone came to see the wonderful sight.

Oz ordered the balloon carried out in front of the Palace, and the people gazed upon it with much curiosity. The Tin Woodman had chopped a big pile of wood, and now he made a fire of it, and Oz held the bottom of the balloon over the fire so that the hot air that arose from it would be caught in the silken bag. Gradually the balloon swelled out and rose into the air, until finally the basket just touched the ground. Note: Again…thank you Baum for your level of explanation.

Then Oz got into the basket and said to all the people in a loud voice:

"I am now going away to make a visit. While I am gone the Scarecrow will rule over you. I command you to obey him as you would me."

The balloon was by this time tugging hard at the rope that held it to the ground, for the air within it was hot, and this made it so much lighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard to rise into the sky.

"Come, Dorothy!" cried the Wizard. "Hurry up, or the balloon will fly away."

"I can't find Toto anywhere," replied Dorothy, who did not wish to leave her little dog behind. Toto had run into the crowd to bark at a kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up and ran towards the balloon.

She was within a few steps of it, and Oz was holding out his hands to help her into the basket, when, crack! went the ropes, and the balloon rose into the air without her.

"Come back!" she screamed. "I want to go, too!"

"I can't come back, my dear," called Oz from the basket. "Good-bye!"

"Good-bye!" shouted everyone, and all eyes were turned upward to where the Wizard was riding in the basket, rising every moment farther and farther into the sky.

And that was the last any of them ever saw of Oz, the Wonderful Wizard, though he may have reached Omaha safely, and be there now, for all we know. But the people remembered him lovingly, and said to one another:

"Oz was always our friend. When he was here he built for us this beautiful Emerald City, and now he is gone he has left the Wise Scarecrow to rule over us."

Still, for many days they grieved over the loss of the Wonderful Wizard and would not be comforted.

Note: It is interesting that they never find out he was a humbug. And a gleeful one at that if you remember yesterday’s post—he is quite proud of himself for fooling everyone for so long. He really is revealed to be a much more of a sinister character in the second Oz book the Marvellous Land of Oz where he abducts baby Ozma—the rightful ruler of Oz—and gives her to a mean witch Mombi to do with what she will so he will have no competition as ruler. Mombi turns Ozma into a boy called Tip whom she treats as a slave. Ozma is eventually restored to her female form and placed on the throne of Oz. Baum softens the Wizard in later books bringing out his humbug side and having Glinda the good teach him a bit of real magic which he performs with nine tiny piglets. This is something that always bothered me—but perhaps we all can be redeemed, even a Wizard.

Side by side if you want to see them that way:

Stay tuned for the forest of fighting trees!