Tag: wicked

SPOILER ALERT: Skip this bit if you haven’t read the book and are planning to do so!

Cap’n Bill, a sailor with a wooden peg-leg, and his friend, a little girl named Trot, set out from California on a calm day for a short ride in their rowboat.  A freak whirlpool capsizes their boat and pulls them underwater, where they are carried by mermaids (referred to but not seen) to a cave.  They are soon joined by a flying creature called an Ork.  Passing through a dark tunnel out of the cave, the three arrive at an island inhabited by a grim man calling himself Pessim the Observer.  Cap’n Bill and Trot reduce their size by eating magic shrinking-berries, and the Ork carries them away from the island to the land of Mo, where they eat another type of magic berries and resume their normal size.

They meet the Bumpy Man, who specializes in serving sugar and molasses and has some of their appearance too.  After dining on Mo rain (lemonade) and Mo snow (popcorn), they run into Button-Bright, the boy from The Road to Oz who has gotten lost again.  Cap’n Bill calls down some of the native birds (who, like all birds in fairy countries, can talk back) and offers them the growing berries to make them large enough to carry himself, Trot, and Button-Bright to the land of Oz.  When they make it across the desert, Button-Bright, Cap’n Bill, and Trot are set down in a field and the Ork leaves them to find his own country, which he got lost from on a routine flight.

The place Button-Bright, Cap’n Bill, and Trot have arrived in, Jinxland, is cut off from the rest of Oz by a range of high mountains and a bottomless crevice.  The kingdom has had a turbulent recent history.  The rightful king of Jinxland, King Kynd, was removed by his prime minister Phearse, who was in turn removed by his prime minister Krewl who now rules over the land.  An unpleasant but wealthy citizen named Googly-Goo seeks to marry King Kynd’s daughter, Princess Gloria; however, she is in love with Pon, the current gardener’s boy, who is the son of the first usurper Phearse. King Krewl and Googly-Goo hire a witch named Blinkie to freeze Gloria’s heart so that she will no longer love Pon.  Cap’n Bill happens on this plot, and to keep him from interfering, Blinkie turns him into a grasshopper.  She then freezes Gloria’s heart. Googly-Goo proposes to her, but now that her heart is frozen, she does not love anyone at all, including Googly-Goo, whose proposal she scornfully declines.

The Scarecrow is at Glinda’s palace in the Quadling Country and learns about these events from reading Glinda’s Great Book of Records, a magical volume that transcribes every event in the world at the instant it happens.  The Scarecrow wants to help Cap’n Bill, Button-Bright, and Trot, and Glinda sends him to Jinxland with some of her magic to aid him.  The Scarecrow travels to Jinxland and joins forces with Trot, Cap’n Bill (who is still a grasshopper), and the Ork, who flies off to his homeland for reinforcements.  The Scarecrow attempts to depose Krewl and is captured, with Googly-Goo suggesting the Scarecrow be burned, but then the Ork arrives just in time with fifty other Orks, who attack the Jinxlanders and turn the tables on Krewl.  The victorious party then arrives at Blinkie’s and makes her undo her magic on Cap’n Bill and Princess Gloria by using a magic powder to shrink her in size.  When she has undone her evil spells, the Scarecrow stops Blinkie’s shrinking, but she remains at a small size and loses all her magic powers.

Gloria takes the throne of Jinxland and elevates Pon to be her royal consort, and the Scarecrow, Button-Bright, Cap’n Bill, Trot, and the Orks return to the Emerald City for a celebration.

Read more about The The Scarecrow Of Oz here.

The above articles were sourced from Wikipedia and are subject to change.   

SPOILER ALERT: Skip this bit if you haven’t read the book and are planning to do so!

At the beginning of this story, it is made quite clear that Dorothy Gale (the primary protagonist of many of the previous Oz books), is in the habit of freely speaking of her many adventures in the Land of Oz to her only living relatives, her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.  Neither of them believes a word of her stories, but consider her a dreamer, as her dead mother had been.  She is undeterred.

Later, it is revealed that the destruction of their farmhouse by the tornado back in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has left Uncle Henry in terrible debt.  In order to pay it, he has taken out a mortgage on his farm.  If he cannot repay his creditors, they will seize the farm, thus leaving Henry and his family homeless.  He is not too afraid for himself, but both he and his wife, Aunt Em, fear very much for their niece’s future.  Upon learning this, Dorothy quickly arranges with Princess Ozma to let her bring her guardians to Oz where they will be happier and forever safe.  Using the Magic Belt (a tool captured from the jealous Nome King Roquat), Ozma transports them to her throne room.  They are given rooms to live in and luxuries to enjoy, including a vast and complex wardrobe, and meet with many of Dorothy’s old friends, including the Cowardly Lion and Billina the Yellow Hen.

In the underground Nome Kingdom, the Nome King Roquat is plotting to conquer the Land of Oz and recover his magic belt, which Dorothy took from him in Ozma of Oz.  General Blug suggested that King Roquat have their forces dig a tunnel under the Deadly Desert.  After ordering the expulsion of General Blug (who will not agree to such an attack due to the powers of Princess Ozma) and the death of Colonel (who also refuses) where he was sliced thin in a torture chamber and fed to a bunch of Seven-Headed Dogs, King Roquat holds counsel with a veteran soldier called Guph.  Guph believes that against the many magicians of Oz (the reputation of which has grown in the telling), the Nome Army has no chance alone. He, therefore, sets out personally to recruit allies from other parts of Nonestica.

Dorothy, accompanied by the Wizard of Oz and several other friends, departs the Emerald City in a carriage drawn by the Wooden Sawhorse, intending to give her aunt and uncle a tour of the land.  Many of the people encountered have never been seen in other books:

The living cut-out paper dolls created by an immortal called Miss Cuttenclip.

The anthropomorphic jigsaw puzzles known as the Fuddles.

The loquacious Rigmaroles.

The paranoid Flutterbudgets.

The living kitchen utensils of Utensia.

The anthropomorphic pastries of Bunbury.

The civilized rabbits of Bunnybury.

A zebra who holds geographical disputes with a soft-shell crab.

Other figures, more familiar to readers of previous books, include the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, as well as the four tribes of Oz (the Munchkins, the Quadlings, the Gillikins, and the Winkies).

The Nome General Guph visits three nations:

The Whimsies are a large and hulking race but possess disproportionately small heads the size of doorknobs.  This causes other species to call them stupid, stripping them of any self-esteem.  To deny this, the Whimsies wear enormous, luridly designed masks that cover all of their heads.  Their Chief agrees to the deal and sends Guph on his way.  The Chief of the Whimsies hopes that when the Nome King reclaims his Magic Belt, he can use its magic to make their heads the size of the masks they wear.

The Growleywogs are muscular giants, possessing no surplus flesh and no mercy.  They are arrogant and cruel. Their Grand Gallipoot agrees to the deal in exchange that they grant them 20,000 slaves from the Land of Oz.  As such, they are eager not only to help the Nomes conquer Oz but also to secretly subjugate the Nomes as well.  Of the latter plan, they say nothing and send Guph on his way.

Last of his meetings is that which is with the mysterious, diabolical Phanfasms of Phantastico.  To Guph, the Phanfasms resemble hairy men but have the heads of various carnivorous mammals, birds, and reptiles. Their true forms, number, standard of living, culture, and extent of influence remain unknown to both Guph and the reader, although both receive hints in the narrative.  The first Phanfasm that Guph encountered was one with the head of an owl after getting past the scarlet alligator on the bridge.  Their bear-headed leader called the First and Foremost agrees to the deal so that they can make people unhappy.  The Phanfasms tell him that they will conquer Oz alongside the other armies, but they have a secret plan to turn traitor and dominate their allies.  Of the latter plan, they say nothing and send Guph on his way.

Having learned of this through Ozma’s omniscient Magic Picture, the people of Oz become worried.  As the Nomes dig a tunnel for the combined armies to get under the Deadly Desert to the heart of the Emerald City, Ozma uses her Magic Belt to wish for a large amount of dust to appear in the tunnel.  Upon emerging, the Nome King’s allies, therefore, drink thirstily from the nearby Fountain of Oblivion, whose waters make them forget their evil plans.  The Nome King himself avoids the drink but is thrown into the fountain by the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, which erases his memory too.

Ozma uses the Magic Belt to send the Nome King and his allies back to their respective lands.  To forestall a future invasion of Oz, Glinda the Good Witch uses a magic charm to render Oz invisible and unreachable to everyone except those within the land itself.

Read more about The Emerald City Of Oz here.

The above articles were sourced from Wikipedia and are subject to change.   

SPOILER ALERT: Skip this bit if you haven’t read the book and are planning to do so!

While Dorothy Gale is at home in Kansas one day, she and her pet dog Toto meet the Shaggy Man who comes walking past the Gale farm.  He is a friendly, yet slightly senile hobo with an optimistic, carefree mentality.  He politely asks Dorothy for directions to Butterfield, which is the nearest town on the prairie.  The girl agrees to show him the way, bringing her dog with her.  Further on, the road splits into seven paths.  They take the seventh one and soon find themselves lost in what appears to be another dimension.  The trio meets Button-Bright, a cute and wealthy little boy in a sailor’s outfit who is always getting lost.  Later, the companions encounter Polychrome, the beautiful and ethereal Daughter of the Rainbow who is stranded on earth.  Polychrome explains that she accidentally fell off her father’s bow while dancing on it.  The bow ascended into the atmosphere and back into the clouds before she was able to climb her way back on it, thus being left behind.

Dorothy, Toto, the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, and Polychrome eventually come to the peculiar town of Foxville, where anthropomorphic foxes live.  With prompting from King Dox of Foxville, Dorothy deduces that she and Toto are obviously on another fairy adventure that will ultimately lead them to the magical Land of Oz, just in time for Princess Ozma’s royal birthday party (which is now acknowledged as August 21 by Oz fans, even though the book only refers to the 21st of the month, Dorothy having mentioned that the current month is August in another passage).  The king takes a particular liking to Button-Bright, whom he considers astute and clever due to his tabula rasa-like mind.  Believing that the human face does not suit one so clever, Dox gives him a fox’s head which he is unable to remove.  A similar event subsequently happens to the Shaggy Man, when King Kik-a-Bray of Dunkiton confers a donkey’s head upon him — also in reward for cleverness, even though it is implied that Foxville and Dunkiton exist at odds with one another.  Though both of them ask Dorothy to procure them invitations to Princess Ozma’s birthday party.

After meeting the Musicker, who produces music from his breath, and fighting off the Scoodlers, who fight by removing their own heads and throwing them at the travellers, Dorothy and her companions reach the edge of the fatal Deadly Desert completely surrounding Oz.  There, the Shaggy Man’s friend Johnny Dooit builds a sand-boat by which they may cross.  This is necessary, because physical contact with the desert’s sands, as of this book and Ozma of Oz (1907), will turn the travellers to dust.

Upon reaching Oz, Dorothy and her companions are warmly welcomed by the mechanical man Tik-Tok and Billina the Yellow Hen.  They proceed in the company to come in their travels to the Truth Pond where Button-Bright and the Shaggy Man regain their true heads by bathing in its waters.  They meet the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and Jack Pumpkinhead who journey with them to the imperial capital called Emerald City for Ozma’s grand birthday bash.  Dorothy meets up with Ozma as her chariot is pulled in by the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger.

As preparations for Ozma’s birthday party are made, the guests include Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, the Wizard of Oz, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, Tik-Tok, Billina, Jellia Jamb, Woggle-Bug, Hungry Tiger, the Good Witch of the North, Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, Polychrome, and characters from all over Nonestica (such as Santa Claus, a band of Ryls, and a bunch of Knooks from the Forest of Burzee, Queen Zixi of Ix, the Queen of Merryland, four wooden soldiers, and the Candy Man from Merryland, the Braided Man from Boboland’s Pyramid Mountain, the Queen of Ev, King Evoldo, and his nine siblings from the Land of Ev, King Bud and Princess Fluff from Noland, and John Dough, Chick the Cherub, and Para Bruin the Rubber Bear from Hiland and Loland) as well as invitations to King Dox, King Kik-a-Bray, and Johnny Dooit.  Though Princess Ozma couldn’t procure an invitation to the Musicker due to a chance that his uncontrollable vocal tic might arouse violence against him.  The Shaggy Man receives permission to stay in Oz permanently.  He is given, in addition to this, a new suit of clothes having bobtails in place of his former costume’s ragged edges, so that he may retain his name and identity.

After everyone has presented their gifts and feasted at a lavish banquet in Ozma’s honour, the Wizard of Oz demonstrates a method of using bubbles as transportation by which to send everyone home.  Polychrome is finally found by her rainbow family and she is magically lifted into the sky when she climbs back onto her bow.  Button-Bright goes home with Santa Claus in a soap bubble with the Sawhorse loaned to Santa Claus. Dorothy and Toto are finally wished back home to Kansas again by Ozma’s use of the Magic Belt.

Read more about The Road To Oz here.

The above articles were sourced from Wikipedia and are subject to change.