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20. The Dainty China Country
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 colors.
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 colored 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 jeweled 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 travelers 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.
"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.
"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.
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.
"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, |
"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.
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 travelers 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.
"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."
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