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94 pages

English

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pubOne.info thank you for your continued support and wish to present you this new edition. The Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and Polychrome

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	27 septembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819927198
Langue	English

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The Road to Oz
In which is related how Dorothy Gale ofKansas,
The Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and Polychrome
the Rainbow's Daughter met on an
Enchanted Road and followed
it all the way to the
Marvelous Land
of Oz.
by
L. Frank Baum
“Royal Historian of Oz”
To My Readers
Well, my dears, here is what you have asked for:another “Oz Book” about Dorothy's strange adventures. Toto is inthis story, because you wanted him to be there, and many othercharacters which you will recognize are in the story, too. Indeed,the wishes of my little correspondents have been considered ascarefully as possible, and if the story is not exactly as you wouldhave written it yourselves, you must remember that a story has tobe a story before it can be written down, and the writer cannotchange it much without spoiling it.
In the preface to “Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz” Isaid I would like to write some stories that were not “Oz” stories,because I thought I had written about Oz long enough; but sincethat volume was published I have been fairly deluged with lettersfrom children imploring me to “write more about Dorothy, ” and“more about Oz, ” and since I write only to please the children Ishall try to respect their wishes.
There are some new characters in this book thatought to win your live. I'm very fond of the shaggy man myself, andI think you will like him, too. As for Polychrome— the Rainbow'sDaughter— and stupid little Button-Bright, they seem to havebrought a new element of fun into these Oz stories, and I am glad Idiscovered them. Yet I am anxious to have you write and tell me howyou like them.
Since this book was written I have received somevery remarkable News from The Land of Oz, which has greatlyastonished me. I believe it will astonish you, too, my dears, whenyou hear it. But it is such a long and exciting story that it mustbe saved for another book— and perhaps that book will be the laststory that will ever be told about the Land of Oz.
L. FRANK BAUM
Coronado, 1909.
1. The Way to Butterfield
“Please, miss, ” said the shaggy man, “can you tellme the road to Butterfield? ”
Dorothy looked him over. Yes, he was shaggy, allright, but there was a twinkle in his eye that seemed pleasant.
“Oh yes, ” she replied; “I can tell you. But itisn't this road at all. ”
“No? ”
“You cross the ten-acre lot, follow the lane to thehighway, go north to the five branches, and take— let me see— ”
“To be sure, miss; see as far as Butterfield, if youlike, ” said the shaggy man.
“You take the branch next the willow stump, Ib'lieve; or else the branch by the gopher holes; or else— ”
“Won't any of 'em do, miss? ”
“'Course not, Shaggy Man. You must take the rightroad to get to Butterfield. ”
“And is that the one by the gopher stump, or— ”
“Dear me! ” cried Dorothy. “I shall have to show youthe way, you're so stupid. Wait a minute till I run in the houseand get my sunbonnet. ”
The shaggy man waited. He had an oat-straw in hismouth, which he chewed slowly as if it tasted good; but it didn't.There was an apple-tree beside the house, and some apples hadfallen to the ground. The shaggy man thought they would tastebetter than the oat-straw, so he walked over to get some. A littleblack dog with bright brown eyes dashed out of the farm-house andran madly toward the shaggy man, who had already picked up threeapples and put them in one of the big wide pockets of his shaggycoat. The little dog barked and made a dive for the shaggy man'sleg; but he grabbed the dog by the neck and put it in his bigpocket along with the apples. He took more apples, afterward, formany were on the ground; and each one that he tossed into hispocket hit the little dog somewhere upon the head or back, and madehim growl. The little dog's name was Toto, and he was sorry he hadbeen put in the shaggy man's pocket.
Pretty soon Dorothy came out of the house with hersunbonnet, and she called out:
“Come on, Shaggy Man, if you want me to show you theroad to Butterfield. ” She climbed the fence into the ten-acre lotand he followed her, walking slowly and stumbling over the littlehillocks in the pasture as if he was thinking of something else anddid not notice them.
“My, but you're clumsy! ” said the little girl. “Areyour feet tired? ”
“No, miss; it's my whiskers; they tire very easilyin this warm weather, ” said he. “I wish it would snow, don't you?”
“'Course not, Shaggy Man, ” replied Dorothy, givinghim a severe look. “If it snowed in August it would spoil the cornand the oats and the wheat; and then Uncle Henry wouldn't have anycrops; and that would make him poor; and— ”
“Never mind, ” said the shaggy man. “It won't snow,I guess. Is this the lane? ”
“Yes, ” replied Dorothy, climbing another fence;“I'll go as far as the highway with you. ”
“Thankee, miss; you're very kind for your size, I'msure, ” said he gratefully.
“It isn't everyone who knows the road toButterfield, ” Dorothy remarked as she tripped along the lane; “butI've driven there many a time with Uncle Henry, and so I b'lieve Icould find it blindfolded. ”
“Don't do that, miss, ” said the shaggy manearnestly; “you might make a mistake. ”
“I won't, ” she answered, laughing. “Here's thehighway. Now it's the second— no, the third turn to the left— orelse it's the fourth. Let's see. The first one is by the elm tree,and the second is by the gopher holes; and then— ”
“Then what? ” he inquired, putting his hands in hiscoat pockets. Toto grabbed a finger and bit it; the shaggy man tookhis hand out of that pocket quickly, and said “Oh! ”
Dorothy did not notice. She was shading her eyesfrom the sun with her arm, looking anxiously down the road.
“Come on, ” she commanded. “It's only a little wayfarther, so I may as well show you. ”
After a while, they came to the place where fiveroads branched in different directions; Dorothy pointed to one, andsaid:
“That's it, Shaggy Man. ”
“I'm much obliged, miss, ” he said, and startedalong another road.
“Not that one! ” she cried; “you're going wrong.”
He stopped.
“I thought you said that other was the road toButterfield, ” said he, running his fingers through his shaggywhiskers in a puzzled way.
“So it is. ”
“But I don't want to go to Butterfield, miss. ”
“You don't? ”
“Of course not. I wanted you to show me the road, soI shouldn't go there by mistake. ”
“Oh! Where DO you want to go, then? ”
“I'm not particular, miss. ”
This answer astonished the little girl; and it madeher provoked, too, to think she had taken all this trouble fornothing.
“There are a good many roads here, ” observed theshaggy man, turning slowly around, like a human windmill. “Seems tome a person could go 'most anywhere, from this place. ”
Dorothy turned around too, and gazed in surprise.There WERE a good many roads; more than she had ever seen before.She tried to count them, knowing there ought to be five, but whenshe had counted seventeen she grew bewildered and stopped, for theroads were as many as the spokes of a wheel and ran in everydirection from the place where they stood; so if she kept oncounting she was likely to count some of the roads twice.
“Dear me! ” she exclaimed. “There used to be onlyfive roads, highway and all. And now— why, where's the highway,Shaggy Man? ”
“Can't say, miss, ” he responded, sitting down uponthe ground as if tired with standing. “Wasn't it here a minute ago?”
“I thought so, ” she answered, greatly perplexed.“And I saw the gopher holes, too, and the dead stump; but they'renot here now. These roads are all strange— and what a lot of themthere are! Where do you suppose they all go to? ”
“Roads, ” observed the shaggy man, “don't goanywhere. They stay in one place, so folks can walk on them. ”
He put his hand in his side-pocket and drew out anapple— quick, before Toto could bite him again. The little dog gothis head out this time and said “Bow-wow! ” so loudly that it madeDorothy jump.
“O, Toto! ” she cried; “where did you come from?”
“I brought him along, ” said the shaggy man.
“What for? ” she asked.
“To guard these apples in my pocket, miss, so no onewould steal them. ”
With one hand the shaggy man held the apple, whichhe began eating, while with the other hand he pulled Toto out ofhis pocket and dropped him to the ground. Of course Toto made forDorothy at once, barking joyfully at his release from the darkpocket. When the child had patted his head lovingly, he sat downbefore her, his red tongue hanging out one side of his mouth, andlooked up into her face with his bright brown eyes, as if askingher what they should do next.
Dorothy didn't know. She looked around her anxiouslyfor some familiar landmark; but everything was strange. Between thebranches of the many roads were green meadows and a few shrubs andtrees, but she couldn't see anywhere the farm-house from which shehad just come, or anything she had ever seen before— except theshaggy man and Toto. Besides this, she had turned around and aroundso many times trying to find out where she was, that now shecouldn't even tell which direction the farm-house ought to be in;and this began to worry her and make her feel anxious.
“I'm 'fraid, Shaggy Man, ” she said, with a sigh,“that we're lost! ”
“That's nothing to be afraid of, ” he replied,throwing away the core of his apple and beginning to eat anotherone. “Each of these roads must lead somewhere, or it wouldn't behere. So what does it matter? ”
“I want to go home again, ” she said.
“Well, why don't you? ” said he.
“I don't know which road to take. ”
“That is too bad, ” he said, shaking his shaggy headgravely. “I wish I could help you; but I can't. I'm a stranger inthese parts. ”
“Seems as if I were, too, ” she said, sitting downbeside him. “It's funny. A few minutes ago I was home, and I justcame to show you the way to Butterfield— ”
“So I shouldn't make a mistake and go there— ”
“And now I'm lost myself and don't know how to gethome! ”
“Have an apple, ” suggested