Cowardly Lion (Fictitious character) -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature; Oz (Imaginary place) -- Juvenile fiction
Dorothy could not help crying as Crunch tucked this lifelike image of
her old chum under his arm and prepared to tramp off. But he got no
further than two steps, for at the second step the combined magic of
Glinda and the Wizard of Oz deprived him of all power to move. Crunch
dropped the Cowardly Lion with a crash that chipped off a piece of his
mane, and with one foot raised in the air stood perfectly motionless.
The Stone Man was no longer alive!
"Oh!" cried Notta, frightened by the ease with which Glinda had
deprived the stone giant of life, "who will bring the Cowardly Lion to
himself again?" And at once everyone ran over to the poor petrified
lion, and tugging and pulling, managed to get him to his feet.
"It was the only thing we could do," puffed the little Wizard of Oz,
gazing up worriedly at the huge statue of Crunch. "He did not know how
to use the gift of life, and would only have brought more trouble upon
us."
"Isn't this trouble enough?" cried Dorothy, throwing her arms around
the cold, still figure of the Cowardly Lion.
"There, there, my dear! Glinda will find a way out of all this,"
comforted the Scarecrow, and Notta and Bob joined him in his efforts
to console the little girl, while Sir Hokus and the Tin Woodman ran to
help Tik Tok to his feet.
"All this has happened because of you!" declared Ozma, stamping her
foot for the first time in her gentle little life, and looking sternly
at Mustafa.
"And for a punishment," she pointed at the huge, craggy figure of
Crunch, "for a punishment this Stone Man shall stand forever in Mudge,
a monument to your greediness and folly."
"Take away his ring," whispered Bob, tip-toeing up to the little
fairy ruler, for he had seen Mustafa slyly beginning to take it off and
Bob knew its dreadful power. Without losing a minute, Ozma commanded
Mustafa to hand over the ring. Tremblingly, the wretched old Mudger
obeyed. So much had happened in the last few minutes, he was positively
stunned by his misfortune. Not only had he offended the ruler of all
Oz, lost the Cowardly Lion and his ring, but all of his other lions
were turned to stone. Jerking his turban over one eye, the miserable
monarch shuffled mournfully to his tent, and no one cared enough to
stop him. Then, as the whole party was heartily disgusted with the hot,
desert city of the Mudgers, Glinda, by a quick transportation phrase,
wished them all safely back to the Emerald City.
There, for several hours Glinda, the Wizard of Oz, and Ozma worked over
the Cowardly Lion, but all of their magic failed to undo the Stone
Man's spell, and it looked as if the huge beast would have to spend the
rest of his life as a garden ornament. Twenty of the palace servants
bore him down the steps and placed him gently in the center of a large
flower bed, and all the inhabitants of the city came and gazed sadly at
their once lively and cowardly comrade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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