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86 pages

English

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pubOne.info thank you for your continued support and wish to present you this new edition. and Trot and the Wizard of Oz, together with the

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	27 septembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819926702
Langue	English

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The Magic of Oz
A Faithful Record of the Remarkable Adventuresof Dorothy
and Trot and the Wizard of Oz, together with the
Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger and Cap'n Bill,
in their successful search for a Magical
and Beautiful Birthday Present for
Princess Ozma of Oz
by
L. Frank Baum
“Royal Historian of Oz”
To My Readers
Curiously enough, in the events which have takenplace in the last few years in our “great outside world, ” we mayfind incidents so marvelous and inspiring that I cannot hope toequal them with stories of The Land of Oz.
However, “The Magic of Oz” is really more strangeand unusual than anything I have read or heard about on our side ofThe Great Sandy Desert which shuts us off from The Land of Oz, evenduring the past exciting years, so I hope it will appeal to yourlove of novelty.
A long and confining illness has prevented myanswering all the good letters sent me— unless stamps wereenclosed— but from now on I hope to be able to give promptattention to each and every letter with which my readers favorme.
Assuring you that my love for you has never falteredand hoping the Oz Books will continue to give you pleasure as longas I am able to write them, I am
Yours affectionately,
L. FRANK BAUM,
“Royal Historian of Oz. ”
“OZCOT”
at HOLLYWOOD
in CALIFORNIA
1919
1. Mount Munch
On the east edge of the Land of Oz, in the MunchkinCountry, is a big, tall hill called Mount Munch. One one side, thebottom of this hill just touches the Deadly Sandy Desert thatseparates the Fairyland of Oz from all the rest of the world, buton the other side, the hill touches the beautiful, fertile Countryof the Munchkins.
The Munchkin folks, however, merely stand off andlook at Mount Munch and know very little about it; for, about athird of the way up, its sides become too steep to climb, and ifany people live upon the top of that great towering peak that seemsto reach nearly to the skies, the Munchkins are not aware of thefact.
But people DO live there, just the same. The top ofMount Munch is shaped like a saucer, broad and deep, and in thesaucer are fields where grains and vegetables grow, and flocks arefed, and brooks flow and trees bear all sorts of things. There arehouses scattered here and there, each having its family of Hyups,as the people call themselves. The Hyups seldom go down themountain, for the same reason that the Munchkins never climb up:the sides are too steep.
In one of the houses lived a wise old Hyup namedBini Aru, who used to be a clever Sorcerer. But Ozma of Oz, whorules everyone in the Land of Oz, had made a decree that no oneshould practice magic in her dominions except Glinda the Good andthe Wizard of Oz, and when Glinda sent this royal command to theHyups by means of a strong-winged Eagle, old Bini Aru at oncestopped performing magical arts. He destroyed many of his magicpowders and tools of magic, and afterward honestly obeyed the law.He had never seen Ozma, but he knew she was his Ruler and must beobeyed.
There was only one thing that grieved him. He haddiscovered a new and secret method of transformations that wasunknown to any other Sorcerer. Glinda the Good did not know it, nordid the little Wizard of Oz, nor Dr. Pipt nor old Mombi, nor anyoneelse who dealt in magic arts. It was Bini Aru's own secret. By itsmeans, it was the simplest thing in the world to transform anyoneinto beast, bird or fish, or anything else, and back again, onceyou know how to pronounce the mystical word: “Pyrzqxgl. ”
Bini Aru had used this secret many times, but not tocause evil or suffering to others. When he had wandered far fromhome and was hungry, he would say: “I want to become a cow—Pyrzqxgl! ” In an instant he would be a cow, and then he would eatgrass and satisfy his hunger. All beasts and birds can talk in theLand of Oz, so when the cow was no longer hungry, it would say: “Iwant to be Bini Aru again: Pyrzqxgl! ” and the magic word, properlypronounced, would instantly restore him to his proper form.
Now, of course, I would not dare to write down thismagic word so plainly if I thought my readers would pronounce itproperly and so be able to transform themselves and others, but itis a fact that no one in all the world except Bini Aru, had ever(up to the time this story begins) been able to pronounce“Pyrzqxgl! ” the right way, so I think it is safe to give it toyou. It might be well, however, in reading this story aloud, to becareful not to pronounce Pyrzqxgl the proper way, and thus avoidall danger of the secret being able to work mischief.
Bini Aru, having discovered the secret of instanttransformation, which required no tools or powders or otherchemicals or herbs and always worked perfectly, was reluctant tohave such a wonderful discovery entirely unknown or lost to allhuman knowledge. He decided not to use it again, since Ozma hadforbidden him to do so, but he reflected that Ozma was a girl andsome time might change her mind and allow her subjects to practicemagic, in which case Bini Aru could again transform himself andothers at will, — unless, of course, he forgot how to pronouncePyrzqxgl in the meantime.
After giving the matter careful thought, he decidedto write the word, and how it should be pronounced, in some secretplace, so that he could find it after many years, but where no oneelse could ever find it.
That was a clever idea, but what bothered the oldSorcerer was to find a secret place. He wandered all over theSaucer at the top of Mount Munch, but found no place in which towrite the secret word where others might not be likely to stumbleupon it. So finally he decided it must be written somewhere in hisown house.
Bini Aru had a wife named Mopsi Aru who was famousfor making fine huckleberry pies, and he had a son named Kiki Aruwho was not famous at all. He was noted as being cross anddisagreeable because he was not happy, and he was not happy becausehe wanted to go down the mountain and visit the big world below andhis father would not let him. No one paid any attention to KikiAru, because he didn't amount to anything, anyway.
Once a year there was a festival on Mount Munchwhich all the Hyups attended. It was held in the center of thesaucer-shaped country, and the day was given over to feasting andmerry-making. The young folks danced and sang songs; the womenspread the tables with good things to eat, and the men played onmusical instruments and told fairy tales.
Kiki Aru usually went to these festivals with hisparents, and then sat sullenly outside the circle and would notdance or sing or even talk to the other young people. So thefestival did not make him any happier than other days, and thistime he told Bini Aru and Mopsi Aru that he would not go. He wouldrather stay at home and be unhappy all by himself, he said, and sothey gladly let him stay.
But after he was left alone Kiki decided to enterhis father's private room, where he was forbidden to go, and see ifhe could find any of the magic tools Bini Aru used to work withwhen he practiced sorcery. As he went in Kiki stubbed his toe onone of the floor boards. He searched everywhere but found no traceof his father's magic. All had been destroyed.
Much disappointed, he started to go out again whenhe stubbed his toe on the same floor board. That set him thinking.Examining the board more closely, Kiki found it had been pried upand then nailed down again in such a manner that it was a littlehigher than the other boards. But why had his father taken up theboard? Had he hidden some of his magic tools underneath thefloor?
Kiki got a chisel and pried up the board, but foundnothing under it. He was just about to replace the board when itslipped from his hand and turned over, and he saw something writtenon the underside of it. The light was rather dim, so he took theboard to the window and examined it, and found that the writingdescribed exactly how to pronounce the magic word Pyrzqxgl, whichwould transform anyone into anything instantly, and back again whenthe word was repeated.
Now, at first, Kiki Aru didn't realize what awonderful secret he had discovered; but he thought it might be ofuse to him and so he took a piece of paper and made on it an exactcopy of the instructions for pronouncing Pyrzqxgl. Then he foldedthe paper and put it in his pocket, and replaced the board in thefloor so that no one would suspect it had been removed.
After this Kiki went into the garden and sittingbeneath a tree made a careful study of the paper. He had alwayswanted to get away from Mount Munch and visit the big world—especially the Land of Oz— and the idea now came to him that if hecould transform himself into a bird, he could fly to any place hewished to go and fly back again whenever he cared to. It wasnecessary, however, to learn by heart the way to pronounce themagic word, because a bird would have no way to carry a paper withit, and Kiki would be unable to resume his proper shape if heforgot the word or its pronunciation.
So he studied it a long time, repeating it a hundredtimes in his mind until he was sure he would not forget it. But tomake safety doubly sure he placed the paper in a tin box in aneglected part of the garden and covered the box with smallstones.
By this time it was getting late in the day and Kikiwished to attempt his first transformation before his parentsreturned from the festival. So he stood on the front porch of hishome and said:
“I want to become a big, strong bird, like a hawk—Pyrzqxgl! ” He pronounced it the right way, so in a flash he feltthat he was completely changed in form. He flapped his wings,hopped to the porch railing and said: “Caw-oo! Caw-oo! ”
Then he laughed and said half aloud: “I supposethat's the funny sound this sort of a bird makes. But now let metry my wings and see if I'm strong enough to fly across the desert.”
For he had decided to make his first trip to thecountry outside the Land of Oz. He had stolen this secret oftransformation and he knew he had diso