The
grounds around Nick Chopper's
new house were laid out in
pretty flower-beds, with fountains
of crystal water and statues
of tin representing the Emperor's
personal friends. Dorothy was
astonished and delighted to
find a tin statue of herself
standing on a tin pedestal
at a bend in the avenue leading
up to the entrance. It was
life-size and showed her in
her sunbonnet with her basket
on her arm, just as she had
first appeared in the Land
of Oz.
"Oh, Toto--you're there too!" she
exclaimed; and sure enough
there was the tin figure of
Toto lying at the tin Dorothy's
feet.
Also, Dorothy saw figures
of the Scarecrow, and the Wizard,
and Ozma, and of many others,
including Tik-tok. They reached
the grand tin entrance to the
tin castle, and the Tin Woodman
himself came running out of
the door to embrace little
Dorothy and give her a glad
welcome. He welcomed her friends
as well, and the Rainbow's
Daughter he declared to be
the loveliest vision his tin
eyes had ever beheld. He patted
Button-Bright's curly head
tenderly, for he was fond of
children, and turned to the
shaggy man and shook both his
hands at the same time.
Nick Chopper, the Emperor
of the Winkies, who was also
known throughout the Land of
Oz as the Tin Woodman, was
certainly a remarkable person.
He was neatly made, all of
tin, nicely soldered at the
joints, and his various limbs
were cleverly hinged to his
body so that he could use them
nearly as well as if they had
been common flesh. Once, he
told the shaggy man, he had
been made all of flesh and
bones, as other people are,
and then he chopped wood in
the forests to earn his living.
But the axe slipped so often
and cut off parts of him--which
he had replaced with tin--that
finally there was no flesh
left, nothing but tin; so he
became a real tin woodman.
The wonderful Wizard of Oz
had given him an excellent
heart to replace his old one,
and he didn't at all mind being
tin. Every one loved him, he
loved every one; and he was
therefore as happy as the day
was long.
The Emperor was proud of
his new tin castle, and showed
his visitors through all the
rooms. Every bit of the furniture
was made of brightly polished
tin--the tables, chairs, beds,
and all--even the floors and
walls were of tin.
"I suppose," said he, "that
there are no cleverer tinsmiths
in all the world than the Winkies.
It would be hard to match this
castle in Kansas; wouldn't
it, little Dorothy?"
"Very hard," replied
the child,
gravely.
"It must have cost a lot
of money," remarked the shaggy
man.
"Money! Money in Oz!" cried
the Tin Woodman. "What a queer
idea! Did you suppose we are
so vulgar as to use money here?"
"Why not?" asked
the shaggy
man.
"If we used money to buy
things with, instead of love
and kindness and the desire
to please one another, then
we should be no better than
the rest of the world," declared
the Tin Woodman. "Fortunately
money is not known in the Land
of Oz at all. We have no rich,
and no poor; for what one wishes
the others all try to give
him, in order to make him happy,
and no one in all Oz cares
to have more than he can use."
"Good!" cried the shaggy
man, greatly pleased to hear
this. "I also despise money--a
man in Butterfield owes me
fifteen cents, and I will not
take it from him. The Land
of Oz is surely the most favored
land in all the world, and
its people the happiest. I
should like to live here always."
The Tin Woodman listened
with respectful attention.
Already he loved the shaggy
man, although he did not yet
know of the Love Magnet. So
he said:
"If
you can
prove to
the Princess
Ozma that
you are
honest and true and worthy
of our friendship, you may
indeed live here all your days,
and be as happy as we are."
"I'll try to prove that," said
the shaggy man, earnestly.
"And now," continued the
Emperor, "you must all go to
your rooms and prepare for
dinner, which will presently
be served in the grand tin
dining-hall. I am sorry, Shaggy
Man, that I can not offer you
a change of clothing; but I
dress only in tin, myself,
and I suppose that would not
suit you."
"I care little about dress," said
the shaggy man, indifferently.
"So I should imagine," replied
the Emperor, with true politeness.
They
were shown
to their
rooms and permitted to make
such toilets as they could,
and soon they assembled again
in the grand tin dining-hall,
even Toto being present. For
the Emperor was fond of Dorothy's
little dog, and the girl explained
to her friends that in Oz all
animals were treated with as
much consideration as the people--"if
they behave themselves," she
added.
Toto behaved himself, and
sat in a tin high-chair beside
Dorothy and ate his dinner
from a tin platter.
Indeed, they all ate from
tin dishes, but these were
of pretty shapes and brightly
polished; Dorothy thought they
were just as good as silver.
Button-Bright
looked
curiously
at the man who had "no appetite
inside him," for the Tin Woodman,
although he had prepared so
fine a feast for his guests,
ate not a mouthful himself,
sitting patiently in his place
to see that all built so they
could eat were well and plentifully
served.
What
pleased
Button-Bright
most about the dinner was the
tin orchestra that played sweet
music while the company ate.
The players were not tin, being
just ordinary Winkies; but
the instruments they played
upon were all tin--tin trumpets,
tin fiddles, tin drums and
cymbals and flutes and horns
and all. They played so nicely
the "Shining Emperor Waltz," composed
expressly in honor of the Tin
Woodman by Mr. H. M. Wogglebug,
T.E., that Polly could not
resist dancing to it. After
she had tasted a few dewdrops,
freshly gathered for her, she
danced gracefully to the music
while the others finished their
repast; and when she whirled
until her fleecy draperies
of rainbow hues enveloped her
like a cloud, the Tin Woodman
was so delighted that he clapped
his tin hands until the noise
of them drowned the sound of
the cymbals.
Altogether it was a merry
meal, although Polychrome ate
little and the host nothing
at all.
"I'm sorry the Rainbow's
Daughter missed her mist-cakes," said
the Tin Woodman to Dorothy; "but
by a mistake Miss Polly's mist-cakes
were mislaid and not missed
until now. I'll try to have
some for her breakfast."
They spent the evening telling
stories, and the next morning
left the splendid tin castle
and set out upon the road to
the Emerald City. The Tin Woodman
went with them, of course,
having by this time been so
brightly polished that he sparkled
like silver. His axe, which
he always carried with him,
had a steel blade that was
tin plated and a handle covered
with tin plate beautifully
engraved and set with diamonds.
The Winkies assembled before
the castle gates and cheered
their Emperor as he marched
away, and it was easy to see
that they all loved him dearly.
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