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2 The yellow brick road
Dorothy and Toto walked along the yellow brick road for a long time.
When they were tired, they stopped in a field by the road.
Not far away, there was a scarecrow, and Dorothy and Toto walked across to look at it.
‘Good day,’ said the Scarecrow.
‘Oh!’ said Dorothy. ‘You can speak!’
‘Of course I can speak,’ said the Scarecrow. ‘But I can't move, up here on this pole... I'd like to get down. Can you help me?’
Carefully, Dorothy took the Scarecrow off his pole.
‘Thank you very much,’ said the Scarecrow. He moved his arms and legs, and straw went everywhere.
‘Who are you?’ he asked. ‘And where are you going?’
‘I'm Dorothy, and I'm going to the Emerald City.
‘I want to go home to Kansas, but I don't know the way. I'm going to ask the Wizard of Oz for help.’
‘Where is the Emerald City?’ asked the Scarecrow. ‘And who is the Wizard of Oz?
‘I don't know anything, you see, because I have no brains in my head— only straw.’
‘Oh dear!’ said Dorothy. ‘I'm very sorry.’
‘I would very much like to have some brains,’ the Scarecrow said. ‘Can I go to the Emerald City with you?
‘Perhaps the Wizard of Oz can give me some brains. What do you think?’
‘I don't know,’ said Dorothy. ‘But yes, please come with me. He's a famous wizard, so perhaps he can help you.’
She felt very sorry for the Scarecrow. ‘Don't be afraid of Toto,’ she said. ‘He never hurts people.’
‘Nothing can hurt me,’ said the Scarecrow. ‘I'm not afraid of anything...
‘Well, that's not true. I am afraid of fire, of course.’
Dorothy walked along the road with her new friend.
Soon she began to feel hungry, so she sat down and she and Toto ate some bread and apples.
‘Would you like some, Scarecrow?’ said Dorothy.
‘No, thank you,’ said the Scarecrow.
‘I don't need to eat or drink. You can't eat when you're made of straw... Now, tell me about your home.’
So Dorothy told him about Kansas, and Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, and the cyclone.
‘But why do you want to leave this beautiful country?’ asked the Scarecrow.
‘Kansas, you say, has no trees, no green hills, no gardens. I don't understand.’
‘That's because you have no brains,’ said Dorothy. ‘Kansas is my home.
‘We say, “East, west— home's best”, and it's true. I want to go home.’
They walked along the road for some hours, and then it got dark.
Dorothy was tired, and soon the Scarecrow saw a little house behind some trees.
There was nobody there, so they went in.
Dorothy and Toto slept, but the Scarecrow just stood all night with his eyes open.
‘Scarecrows don't sleep,’ he said.
In the morning Dorothy looked for water.
‘Why do you want water?’ asked the Scarecrow.
‘Toto and I are thirsty. And I need to wash.’
‘I'm sorry for you,’ said the Scarecrow. ‘You need a lot of things!
‘But you have brains, and you can think, and that's wonderful.’
They found some water, and Dorothy washed. Then she and Toto ate some bread.
Suddenly, they heard a shout from the trees near the house, and they all ran out of the house to look.
They saw a man by a big tree, with an axe in his hand.
He was made of tin. He stood very still and shouted ‘Help!’ again and again.
‘What can I do for you?’ asked Dorothy.
‘I can't move,’ said the Tin Man. ‘Please oil me. There's an oil-can in my house.’
At once Dorothy ran back to the house and found the oil-can.
Then she came back and, with the Scarecrow's help, she carefully oiled the Tin Man.
Slowly, he began to move, first his head, and then his arms and legs.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I feel better now.’ He put down his axe.
‘I went out in the rain, you see, and water is very bad for a tin body.
‘I was there for a long time, and nobody came to help me.’
‘We stopped at your house for the night,’ Dorothy said, ‘and we heard your shout this morning.’
‘Where are you going?’ asked the Tin Man. So Dorothy told him about the Wizard of Oz.
‘I want to go back to Kansas, and the Scarecrow wants some brains,’ she said.
The Tin Man was very interested. ‘Can the Wizard give me a heart, do you think?
‘I have no heart, so I can't love, or feel... I would very much like to have a heart.’
‘Come with us,’ said the Scarecrow.
‘Yes,’ said Dorothy. ‘And then you can ask the Wizard for help, too.’
So they all walked along the yellow brick road.
There were many tall trees next to the road,
and sometimes the three friends heard noises from animals behind the trees.
Dorothy did not like these noises very much.
‘How far is it to the Emerald City?’ she asked the Tin Man. ‘Do you know?’
‘It's a long way, I think,’ said the Tin Man. ‘And we must be careful because—’
But just then a big lion suddenly ran out from the trees, into the road.
It opened its mouth— it had long yellow teeth— and began to run after Toto.
Dorothy was afraid for Toto. She ran up to the lion and hit it on the nose with her bag.
‘Don't hurt my dog!’ she cried angrily. ‘He's smaller than you!’
‘I didn't hurt him,’ said the Lion. ‘Don't hit me again— please!’
‘Why— you're afraid!’ said Dorothy. ‘Be quiet, Toto, he isn't going to hurt you.
‘He's more afraid than you are. He's just a big coward.’
‘It's true,’ said the Lion. ‘I am a coward. Everyone thinks lions are brave.
‘I make a lot of noise, but I'm not brave. I'm just a coward.’
And the Cowardly Lion began to cry.
Then Dorothy told him about the Wizard of Oz. ‘Come with us to the Emerald City,’ she said.
‘I want to go back to Kansas, the Scarecrow wants some brains, and the Tin Man wants a heart. Perhaps the Wizard of Oz can make you brave.’
‘Oh, thank you!’ said the Lion. ‘I would very much like to be brave.’
And so the Cowardly Lion came with them.
At first Toto was afraid of him, but very soon he and the Lion were good friends.
That night Dorothy and Toto slept under a big tree, next to the Cowardly Lion's big, warm body.
In the morning they ate the last of their bread.
‘Oh dear!’ said Dorothy. ‘What are we going to eat for dinner?’
‘I can kill an animal for you,’ said the Cowardly Lion.
‘Oh no— please don't kill anything!’ the Tin Man said. He began to cry.
‘We don't want to hurt any animals. I haven't got a heart, but I feel sorry for them.’
Dorothy quickly got out the oil-can and oiled his face.
‘Don't cry,’ she said. ‘You know water is bad for you.’
They walked along the yellow road, and after an hour or two they came to a big river.
‘Oh no!’ said Dorothy. ‘How can we get across?’
The Lion looked down at the river. ‘I'm very afraid of falling,’ he said, ‘but I think I can jump across.’
‘Good!’ said the Scarecrow at once. ‘You can carry us on your back, one at a time.’
So the Cowardly Lion jumped across the river, first with the Scarecrow on his back, then with Dorothy and Toto, and last with the Tin Man.
But soon they came to a second river.
This one was very big, and the Lion could not jump across it.
The Scarecrow thought for a minute. ‘Look,’ he said. ‘There's a tall tree next to the river.
‘The Tin Man can cut it down with his axe. And when the tree falls across the river, we can walk across the tree.’
‘Very good,’ said the Lion. ‘For somebody with straw in their head, and not brains.’
So the Tin Man cut down the tree with his axe, and soon they were all across that river, too.
