The Tin Woodman of Oz: A Faithful Story of the Astonishing Adventure Undertaken by the Tin Woodman, Assisted by Woot the Wanderer, the Scarecrow of Oz, and Polychrome, the Rainbow's DaughterBaum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
Science
The Tin Woodman of Oz: A Faithful Story of the Astonishing Adventure Undertaken by the Tin Woodman, Assisted by Woot the Wanderer, the Scarecrow of Oz, and Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter
Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature; Gale, Dorothy (Fictitious character) -- Juvenile fiction; Good and evil -- Juvenile fiction; Love -- Juvenile fiction; Magic -- Juvenile fiction; Oz (Imaginary place) -- Juvenile fiction; Princess Ozma (Fictitious character) -- Juvenile fiction; Scarecro
The poor Emperor felt so bewildered that for a time he could only stare
at his old Head in silence. Then he said:
"I must admit that I wasn't at all bad looking before I became tin.
You're almost handsome--for meat. If your hair was combed, you'd be
quite attractive."
"How do you expect me to comb my hair without help?" demanded the Head,
indignantly. "I used to keep it smooth and neat, when I had arms, but
after I was removed from the rest of me, my hair got mussed, and old
Ku-Klip never has combed it for me."
"I'll speak to him about it," said the Tin Woodman. "Do you remember
loving a pretty Munchkin girl named Nimmie Amee?"
"No," answered the Head. "That is a foolish question. The heart in my
body--when I had a body--might have loved someone, for all I know, but
a head isn't made to love; it's made to think."
"Oh; do you think, then?"
"I used to think."
"You must have been shut up in this cupboard for years and years. What
have you thought about, in all that time?"
"Nothing. That's another foolish question. A little reflection will
convince you that I have had nothing to think about, except the boards
on the inside of the cupboard door, and it didn't take me long to think
of everything about those boards that could be thought of. Then, of
course, I quit thinking."
"And are you happy?"
"Happy? What's that?"
"Don't you know what happiness is?" inquired the Tin Woodman.
"I haven't the faintest idea whether it's round or square, or black or
white, or what it is. And, if you will pardon my lack of interest in
it, I will say that I don't care."
The Tin Woodman was much puzzled by these answers. His traveling
companions had grouped themselves at his back, and had fixed their eyes
on the Head and listened to the conversation with much interest, but
until now, they had not interrupted because they thought the Tin
Woodman had the best right to talk to his own head and renew
acquaintance with it.
But now the Tin Soldier remarked:
"I wonder if my old head happens to be in any of these cupboards," and
he proceeded to open all the cupboard doors. But no other head was to
be found on any of the shelves.
"Oh, well; never mind," said Woot the Wanderer; "I can't imagine what
anyone wants of a cast-off head, anyhow."
"I can understand the Soldier's interest," asserted Polychrome, dancing
around the grimy workshop until her draperies formed a cloud around her
dainty form. "For sentimental reasons a man might like to see his old
head once more, just as one likes to revisit an old home."
"And then to kiss it good-bye," added the Scarecrow.
"I hope that tin thing won't try to kiss me good-bye!" exclaimed the
Tin Woodman's former head. "And I don't see what right you folks have
to disturb my peace and comfort, either."
"You belong to me," the Tin Woodman declared.
"I do not!"
"You and I are one."
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