But I do not wish to fight,” declared Ozma, firmly. “No one has the right to destroy any living creatures, however evil they may be, or to hurt them or make them unhappy.
But nobody can stay alive without getting into danger sometimes, and danger doesn’t mean getting hurt, Cap’n; it only means we might get hurt. So I guess we’ll have to take the risk.
But in the course of my wanderings I had the good fortune to save the ninth life of a tailor – tailors having, like cats, nine lives, as you probably know.
The only way to do a thing Is do it when you can, And do it cheerfully, and sing And work and think and plan. The only real unhappy one Is he who dares to shirk; The only really happy one Is he who cares to work.
That’s all right,” said the Scarecrow. “You are quite welcome to take my head off, as long as it will be a better one when you put it on again.
It’s the finest country in all the world, even if it is a fairyland, and I’m happy every minute I live in it,” said the Shaggy Man.
Everyone loved her, but her greatest sorrow was that she could find no one to love in return, since all the men were much too stupid and ugly to mate with one so beautiful and wise.
You had the power all along, my dear.
Why, I’m not afraid to go anywhere, if the Cowardly Lion is with me,” she said. “I know him pretty well, and so I can trust him. He’s always afraid, when we get into trouble, and that’s why he’s cowardly; but he’s a terrible fighter, and that’s why he isn’t a coward. He doesn’t like to fight, you know, but when he HAS to, there isn’t any beast living that can conquer him.
She is protected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the Power of Evil.
A beautiful girl is much superior to a little yellow bird, and a boy – such as I was – far better than a Green Monkey.
This is all true,” said Dorothy, “and I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most desired, and each is happy in having a kingdom to rule besides, I think I should like to go back to Kansas.
All your troubles are due to those ‘ifs’,” declared the Wizard.
Then that accounts for it. In the civilized countries I believe there are no witches left, nor wizards, nor sorceresses, nor magicians. But, you see, the Land of Oz has never been civilized, for we are cut off from all the rest of the world. Therefore we still have witches and wizards amongst us.
For a generous deed lives longer than a great battle or a king’s decree of a scholar’s essay, because it spreads and leaves its mark on all nature and endures through many generations.
If you desire it,” promised the Tin Woodman, leaning back in his tin throne and crossing his tin legs. “I haven’t related my history in a long while, because everyone here knows it nearly as well as I do. But you, being a stranger, are no doubt curious to learn how I became so beautiful and prosperous, so I will recite for your benefit my strange adventures.
I have always thought myself very big and terrible; yet such small things as flowers came near to killing me, and such small animals as mice have saved my life. How strange it all is!
A Glass Cat!” exclaimed Ojo, astonished. “Yes; she makes a very pleasant companion, but admires herself a little more than is considered modest, and she positively refuses to catch mice,” explained Margolotte. “My husband made the cat some pink brains, but they proved to be too high-bred and particular for a cat, so she thinks it is undignified in her to catch mice. Also she has a pretty blood-red heart, but it is made of stone – a ruby, I think – and so is rather hard and unfeeling.
We live in an age of progress,” announced Professor Wogglebug, pompously. “It is easier to swallow knowledge than to acquire it laboriously from books. Is it not so, my friends?” “Some.
At noon they sat down by the roadside, near a little brook, and Dorothy.