"TWIXT YOU AND ME"
The Army of Children which besieged the Postoffice, conquered the
Postmen and delivered to me its imperious Commands, insisted that Trot
and Cap'n Bill be admitted to the Land of Oz, where Trot could enjoy the
society of Dorothy, Betsy Bobbin and Ozma, while the one-legged
sailor-man might become a comrade of the Tin Woodman, the Shaggy Man,
Tik-Tok and all the other quaint people who inhabit this wonderful
fairyland.
It was no easy task to obey this order and land Trot and Cap'n Bill
safely in Oz, as you will discover by reading this book. Indeed, it
required the best efforts of our dear old friend, the Scarecrow, to save
them from a dreadful fate on the journey; but the story leaves them
happily located in Ozma's splendid palace and Dorothy has promised me
that Button-Bright and the three girls are sure to encounter, in the
near future, some marvelous adventures in the Land of Oz, which I hope
to be permitted to relate to you in the next Oz Book.
Meantime, I am deeply grateful to my little readers for their continued
enthusiasm over the Oz stories, as evinced in the many letters they send
me, all of which are lovingly cherished. It takes more and more Oz Books
every year to satisfy the demands of old and new readers, and there have
been formed many "Oz Reading Societies," where the Oz Books owned by
different members are read aloud. All this is very gratifying to me and
encourages me to write more stories. When the children have had enough
of them, I hope they will let me know, and then I'll try to write
something different.
L. Frank Baum
"Royal Historian of Oz."
"OZCOT"
at HOLLYWOOD
in CALIFORNIA, 1915.
Pon, the Gardener's Boy
It was Button-Bright who first discovered, lying on his face beneath a
broad spreading tree near the pathway, a young man whose body shook with
the force of his sobs. He was dressed in a long brown smock and had
sandals on his feet, betokening one in humble life. His head was bare
and showed a shock of brown, curly hair. Button-Bright looked down on
the young man and said:
"Who cares, anyhow?"
"I do!" cried the young man, interrupting his sobs to roll over, face
upward, that he might see who had spoken. "I care, for my heart is
broken!"
"Can't you get another one?" asked the little boy.
"I don't want another!" wailed the young man.
By this time Trot and Cap'n Bill arrived at the spot and the girl leaned
over and said in a sympathetic voice:
"Tell us your troubles and perhaps we may help you."
The youth sat up, then, and bowed politely. Afterward he got upon his
feet, but still kept wringing his hands as he tried to choke down his
sobs. Trot thought he was very brave to control such awful agony so
well.
"My name is Pon," he began. "I'm the gardener's boy."
"Then the gardener of the King is your father, I suppose," said Trot.
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