To My Readers
Well, my dears, here is what you have asked for: another "Oz Book"
about Dorothy's strange adventures. Toto is in this story, because
you wanted him to be there, and many other characters which you will
recognize are in the story, too. Indeed, the wishes of my little
correspondents have been considered as carefully as possible, and if
the story is not exactly as you would have written it yourselves, you
must remember that a story has to be a story before it can be written
down, and the writer cannot change it much without spoiling it.
In the preface to "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz" I said I would like
to write some stories that were not "Oz" stories, because I thought I
had written about Oz long enough; but since that volume was published
I have been fairly deluged with letters from children imploring me to
"write more about Dorothy," and "more about Oz," and since I write
only to please the children I shall try to respect their wishes.
There are some new characters in this book that ought to win your
live. I'm very fond of the shaggy man myself, and I think you will
like him, too. As for Polychrome—the Rainbow's Daughter—and stupid
little Button-Bright, they seem to have brought a new element of fun
into these Oz stories, and I am glad I discovered them. Yet I am
anxious to have you write and tell me how you like them.
Since this book was written I have received some very remarkable News
from The Land of Oz, which has greatly astonished me. I believe it
will astonish you, too, my dears, when you hear it. But it is such a
long and exciting story that it must be saved for another book—and
perhaps that book will be the last story that will ever be told about
the Land of Oz.
L. FRANK BAUM
Coronado, 1909.
Excerpts from ...
1. The Way to Butterfield
"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 one would steal them."
With one hand the shaggy man held the apple, which he began eating,
while with the other hand he pulled Toto out of his pocket and dropped
him to the ground. Of course Toto made for Dorothy at once, barking
joyfully at his release from the dark pocket. When the child had
patted his head lovingly, he sat down before her, his red tongue
hanging out one side of his mouth, and looked up into her face with
his bright brown eyes, as if asking her what they should do next.
Dorothy didn't know. She looked around her anxiously for some
familiar landmark; but everything was strange. Between the branches
of the many roads were green meadows and a few shrubs and trees, but
she couldn't see anywhere the farm-house from which she had just come,
or anything she had ever seen before—except the shaggy man and Toto.
Besides this, she had turned around and around so many times trying to
find out where she was, that now she couldn'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!"
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