  “Oh!” sighed Sir Hokus of Pokes and Oz, stretching his armored legs to the fire. “How I yearn to slay a giant! How it would refresh me! Hast any real giants in Oz, Dorothy?” “Don’t you remember the candy giant?” laughed the little girl, looking up from the handkerchief she was making for Ozma. “Not to my taste,” said the Knight, “though his vest buttons were vastly nourishing.” “Well, there’s Mr. Yoop—he’s a real blood-and-bone giant. There are plenty of giants, I guess, if we knew just where to find them!” said the little girl, biting off her thread. “Find ’em—bind ’em, Get behind ’em! Hokus Pokus He don’t mind ’em!” screamed the Patch Work Girl, bounding out of her chair. “But why can’t you stay peaceably at home, old Iron Sides, and be jolly like the rest of us?” “You don’t understand, Scraps,” put in Dorothy gravely. “Sir Hokus is a Knight and it is a true Knight’s duty to slay giants and dragons and go on quests!” “That it is, my Lady Patches!” boomed Sir Hokus, puffing out his chest. “I’ve rusted here in idleness long enough. To-morrow, with Ozma’s permission, I shall start on a giant quest.” “I’d go with you, only I’ve promised to help Ozma count the royal emeralds,” said the Scarecrow, who had ridden over from his Corn-Ear residence to spend a week with his old friends in the Emerald City. “Giants, Sir, are bluff and rude And might mistake a man for food! Hokus Pokus, be discreet, Or you will soon be giant meat!” chuckled the Patch Work Girl, crooking her finger under the Knight’s nose. “Nonsense!” blustered Sir Hokus, waving Scraps aside. Rising from his green arm chair, he strode up and down the room, his armor clanking at every step. Straightway the company began to tell about wild giants they had read of or known. Trot and Betsy Bobbin held hands as they sat together on the sofa, and Toto, Dorothy’s small dog, crept closer to his little mistress, the bristles on his back rising higher as each story was finished. “Giant stories are all very well, but why tell ’em at night?” shivered Toto, peering nervously at the long shadows in the corners of the room. It was the evening after Ruggedo’s strange discovery of the mixed magic and in the royal palace Ozma and most of the Courtiers had retired. But a few of Princess Dorothy’s special friends had gathered in the cozy sitting-room of her apartment to talk about old times. They were very unusual and interesting friends, not at all the sort one would expect to find in a royal palace, even in Fairyland. Dorothy, herself, before she had become a Princess of Oz, had been a little girl from Kansas but, after several visits to this delightful country, she had preferred to make Oz her home. Trot and Betsy Bobbin also had come from the United States by way of shipwrecks, so to speak, and had been invited to remain by Ozma, the little fairy Princess who ruled Oz, and now each of these girls had a cozy little apartment in the royal palace. Toto had come with Dorothy, but the rest of the company were of more or less magic extraction. The Scarecrow, a stuffed straw person, with a marvelous set of mixed brains given to him by the Wizard of Oz, was Dorothy’s favorite. In fact she had discovered him herself upon a Munchkin farm, lifted him down from his bean pole and brought him to the Emerald City. Tik Tok was a wonderful man made entirely of copper, who could talk, think and act as well as the next fellow when properly wound. You would have been amazed to hear the giant story he was ticking off at this very minute. As for Scraps, she had been made by a magician’s wife out of old pieces of patch-work and magically brought to life. Her bright patches, yarn hair and silver suspender button eyes gave Scraps so comical an expression that just to look at her tickled one’s funny bone. Her head was full of nonsense rhymes and she was so amusing and cheerful that Ozma insisted upon her living with the rest of the celebrities in the Emerald City. Just to Look at Scraps Tickled One’s Funny Bone Just to Look at Scraps Tickled One’s Funny Bone Sir Hokus of Pokes was a comparative new-comer in the capital city of Oz. Yet the Knight was so old that it would give me lumbago just to try to count up his birthdays. He dated back to King Arthur, in fact, and had been wished into the Land of Oz centuries before by an enemy sorcerer. Dorothy had found and rescued him, with the Cowardly Lion’s help, from Pokes, the dullest Kingdom in Oz. As there were no other Knights in the Emerald City, Sir Hokus was much stared at and admired. Even the Soldier with the Green Whiskers, the one and only soldier and entire army of Oz—yes, even the soldier with the Green Whiskers saluted Sir Hokus when he passed. Ozma, herself, felt more secure since the Knight had come to live in the palace. He was well versed in adventure and always courageous and courteous, withal. But, while I’ve been telling you all this, Tik Tok had finished his story of a three-legged giant who lived in Ev. “And where is Ev?” puffed Sir Hokus, planting himself before Tik Tok. “Ev,” began Tik Tok in his precise fashion, “is to the north-west of here on the oth-er side of the im—” There was a whirr and a click and the copper man stood motionless and soundless, his round eyes fixed solemnly on the Knight. “Pass-able des-ert,” finished the Scarecrow, jumping up and kindly winding all of Tik Tok’s keys as if nothing had happened. “Pass-able des-ert,” continued the Copper Man. “That’s where the old Gnome King used to live,” piped Betsy Bobbin, bouncing up and down upon the sofa, “under the mountains of Ev, and he threw us down a tube and tried to melt you in a crucible, didn’t he, Tik Tok?” “He was a ve-ry bad per-son,” said the Copper Man. “Ruggedo was a wicked King, ’Tho’ now he’s good as pie, But none the less, I must confess, He has a wicked eye!” burst out Scraps, who was tired of sitting still listening to giant stories. But Sir Hokus could not be got off the subject of giants. “To Ev!” thundered the Knight, raising his sword. “To-morrow I’m off to Ev to conquer this terrible monster. Large as a mountain, you say, Tik Tok? Well, what care I for mountains? I, Sir Hokus of Pokes, will slay him!” “Hurrah for the giant killer!” giggled Scraps, turning a somersault and nearly falling in the fire. “Let’s go to bed!” said Dorothy uneasily. She had for the last few minutes been hearing strange rumbles. Of course it could not be giants; still the conversation, she concluded, had better be finished by sunlight. But it never was, for at that moment there was a deafening crash. The lights went out; the whole castle shivered; furniture fell every which way. Down clattered Sir Hokus, falling with a terrible clangor on top of the Copper Man. Down rolled the little girls and the Scarecrow and Scraps. Down tumbled everybody. “Cyclone!” gasped Dorothy, who had experienced several in Kansas. “Giants!” stuttered Betsy Bobbin, clutching Trot. The Wizard of Oz tried to reassure the agitated company. He told them there was no cause for alarm, and that they would soon find out what was the trouble. The soothing words of the Wizard were scarcely heard. The Smiling Little Wizard of Oz The Smiling Little Wizard of Oz What the others said was lost in the noise that followed. Thumps—bangs—crashes—screams came from every room in the rocking palace. “We’re flying! The whole castle’s flying up in the air!” screamed Dorothy. Then she subsided, as an emerald clock and three pictures came thumping down on her head. What had happened? No one could say. Dorothy, Betsy Bobbin and Trot had fainted dead away. The Scarecrow and Sir Hokus were tangled up on the floor, clasped in each other’s arms. The confusion was terrific. Only the Wizard was still calm and smiling. (unlabelled)
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