Introduction
Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood
through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and
instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly
unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more
happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.
Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be
classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has
come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped
genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible
and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a
fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality;
therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales
and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.
Having this thought in mind, the story of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"
was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a
modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and
the heartaches and nightmares are left out.
L. Frank Baum
Chicago, April, 1900.
7. The Journey to the Great Oz
This was to be an eventful day for the travelers. They had hardly been
walking an hour when they saw before them a great ditch that crossed
the road and divided the forest as far as they could see on either
side. It was a very wide ditch, and when they crept up to the edge and
looked into it they could see it was also very deep, and there were
many big, jagged rocks at the bottom. The sides were so steep that
none of them could climb down, and for a moment it seemed that their
journey must end.
"What shall we do?" asked Dorothy despairingly.
"I haven't the faintest idea," said the Tin Woodman, and the Lion shook
his shaggy mane and looked thoughtful.
But the Scarecrow said, "We cannot fly, that is certain. Neither can
we climb down into this great ditch. Therefore, if we cannot jump over
it, we must stop where we are."
"I think I could jump over it," said the Cowardly Lion, after measuring
the distance carefully in his mind.
"Then we are all right," answered the Scarecrow, "for you can carry us
all over on your back, one at a time."
"Well, I'll try it," said the Lion. "Who will go first?"
"I will," declared the Scarecrow, "for, if you found that you could not
jump over the gulf, Dorothy would be killed, or the Tin Woodman badly
dented on the rocks below. But if I am on your back it will not matter
so much, for the fall would not hurt me at all."
"I am terribly afraid of falling, myself," said the Cowardly Lion, "but
I suppose there is nothing to do but try it. So get on my back and we
will make the attempt."
The Scarecrow sat upon the Lion's back, and the big beast walked to the
edge of the gulf and crouched down.
"Why don't you run and jump?" asked the Scarecrow.
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