Dorothy and her fellow travelers rode away from the Cuttenclip villageand followed the indistinct path as far as the sign-post. Here theytook the main road again and proceeded pleasantly through the prettyfarming country. When evening came they stopped at a dwelling and werejoyfully welcomed and given plenty to eat and good beds for the night.

Early next morning, however, they were up and eager to start, andafter a good breakfast they bade their host good-bye and climbed intothe red wagon, to which the Sawhorse had been hitched all night.Being made of wood, this horse never got tired nor cared to lie down.Dorothy was not quite sure whether he ever slept or not, but it wascertain that he never did when anybody was around.

The weather is always beautiful in Oz, and this morning the air wascool and refreshing and the sunshine brilliant and delightful.

In about an hour they came to a place where another road branched off.There was a sign-post here which read:

THIS WAY TO FUDDLECUMJIG

"Oh, here is where we turn," said Dorothy, observing the sign.

"What! Are we going to Fuddlecumjig?" asked the Captain General.

"Yes; Ozma thought we might enjoy the Fuddles. They are said to bevery interesting," she replied.

"No one would suspect it from their name," said Aunt Em. "Who arethey, anyhow? More paper things?"

"I think not," answered Dorothy, laughing; "but I can't say 'zactly,Aunt Em, what they are. We'll find out when we get there."

"Perhaps the Wizard knows," suggested Uncle Henry.

"No; I've never been there before," said the Wizard. "But I've oftenheard of Fuddlecumjig and the Fuddles, who are said to be the mostpeculiar people in all the Land of Oz."

"In what way?" asked the Shaggy Man.

"I don't know, I'm sure," said the Wizard.

Just then, as they rode along the pretty green lane towardFuddlecumjig, they espied a kangaroo sitting by the roadside. Thepoor animal had its face covered with both its front paws and wascrying so bitterly that the tears coursed down its cheeks in two tinystreams and trickled across the road, where they formed a pool in asmall hollow.

The Sawhorse stopped short at this pitiful sight, and Dorothy criedout, with ready sympathy:

"What's the matter, Kangaroo?"

"Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!" wailed the Kangaroo; "I've lost my mi--mi--mi--Oh,boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!"--

"Poor thing," said the Wizard, "she's lost her mister. It's probablyher husband, and he's dead."

"No, no, no!" sobbed the kangaroo. "It--it isn't that. I've lost mymi--mi--Oh, boo, boo-hoo!"

"I know," said the Shaggy Man; "she's lost her mirror."

"No; it's my mi--mi--mi--Boo-hoo! My mi--Oh, Boo-hoo!" and thekangaroo cried harder than ever.

"It must be her mince-pie," suggested Aunt Em.

"Or her milk-toast," proposed Uncle Henry.

"I've lost my mi--mi--mittens!" said the kangaroo, getting it out at last.

"Oh!" cried the Yellow Hen, with a cackle of relief. "Why didn't yousay so before?"

"Boo-hoo! I--I--couldn't," answered the kangaroo.

"But, see here," said Dorothy, "you don't need mittens in thiswarm weather."

"Yes, indeed I do," replied the animal, stopping her sobs and removingher paws from her face to look at the little girl reproachfully. "Myhands will get all sunburned and tanned without my mittens, and I'veworn them so long that I'll probably catch cold without them."

"Nonsense!" said Dorothy. "I never heard of any kangaroowearing mittens."

"Didn't you?" asked the animal, as if surprised.

"Never!" repeated the girl. "And you'll probably make yourself sickif you don't stop crying. Where do you live?"

"About two miles beyond Fuddlecumjig," was the answer. "GrandmotherGnit made me the mittens, and she's one of the Fuddles."

"Well, you'd better go home now, and perhaps the old lady will makeyou another pair," suggested Dorothy. "We're on our way toFuddlecumjig, and you may hop along beside us."

So they rode on, and the kangaroo hopped beside the red wagon andseemed quickly to have forgotten her loss. By and by the Wizard saidto the animal:

"Are the Fuddles nice people?"

"Oh, very nice," answered the kangaroo; "that is, when they'reproperly put together. But they get dreadfully scattered and mixedup, at times, and then you can't do anything with them."

"What do you mean by their getting scattered?" inquired Dorothy.

"Why, they're made in a good many small pieces," explained thekangaroo; "and whenever any stranger comes near them they have ahabit of falling apart and scattering themselves around. That's whenthey get so dreadfully mixed, and it's a hard puzzle to put themtogether again."

"Who usually puts them together?" asked Omby Amby.

"Any one who is able to match the pieces. I sometimes put GrandmotherGnit together myself, because I know her so well I can tell everypiece that belongs to her. Then, when she's all matched, she knitsfor me, and that's how she made my mittens. But it took a good manydays hard knitting, and I had to put Grandmother together a good manytimes, because every time I came near, she'd scatter herself."

"I should think she would get used to your coming, and not be afraid,"said Dorothy.

"It isn't that," replied the kangaroo. "They're not a bit afraid,when they're put together, and usually they're very jolly and pleasant.It's just a habit they have, to scatter themselves, and if they didn'tdo it they wouldn't be Fuddles."

The travelers thought upon this quite seriously for a time, while theSawhorse continued to carry them rapidly forward. Then Aunt Em remarked:

"I don't see much use our visitin' these Fuddles. If we findthem scattered, all we can do is to sweep 'em up, and then goabout our business."

"Oh, I b'lieve we'd better go on," replied Dorothy. "I'm gettinghungry, and we must try to get some luncheon at Fuddlecumjig. Perhapsthe food won't be scattered as badly as the people."

"You'll find plenty to eat there," declared the kangaroo, hoppingalong in big bounds because the Sawhorse was going so fast; "and theyhave a fine cook, too, if you can manage to put him together. There'sthe town now--just ahead of us!"

They looked ahead and saw a group of very pretty houses standing in agreen field a little apart from the main road.

"Some Munchkins came here a few days ago and matched a lot of peopletogether," said the kangaroo. "I think they are together yet, and ifyou go softly, without making any noise, perhaps they won't scatter."

"Let's try it," suggested the Wizard.

So they stopped the Sawhorse and got out of the wagon, and, afterbidding good bye to the kangaroo, who hopped away home, they enteredthe field and very cautiously approached the group of houses.

So silently did they move that soon they saw through the windows ofthe houses, people moving around, while others were passing to and froin the yards between the buildings. They seemed much like otherpeople from a distance, and apparently they did not notice the littleparty so quietly approaching.

They had almost reached the nearest house when Toto saw a large beetlecrossing the path and barked loudly at it. Instantly a wild clatterwas heard from the houses and yards. Dorothy thought it sounded likea sudden hailstorm, and the visitors, knowing that caution was nolonger necessary, hurried forward to see what had happened.

After the clatter an intense stillness reigned in the town. Thestrangers entered the first house they came to, which was also thelargest, and found the floor strewn with pieces of the people wholived there. They looked much like fragments of wood neatly painted,and were of all sorts of curious and fantastic shapes, no two piecesbeing in any way alike.

They picked up some of these pieces and looked at them carefully. Onone which Dorothy held was an eye, which looked at her pleasantly butwith an interested expression, as if it wondered what she was going todo with it. Quite near by she discovered and picked up a nose, and bymatching the two pieces together found that they were part of a face.

"If I could find the mouth," she said, "this Fuddle might be able totalk, and tell us what to do next."

"Then let us find it," replied the Wizard, and so all got down ontheir hands and knees and began examining the scattered pieces.

"I've found it!" cried the Shaggy Man, and ran to Dorothy with aqueer-shaped piece that had a mouth on it. But when they tried to fitit to the eye and nose they found the parts wouldn't match together.

"That mouth belongs to some other person," said Dorothy. "You see weneed a curve here and a point there, to make it fit the face."

"Well, it must be here some place," declared the Wizard; "so if wesearch long enough we shall find it."

Dorothy fitted an ear on next, and the ear had a little patch of redhair above it. So while the others were searching for the mouth shehunted for pieces with red hair, and found several of them which, whenmatched to the other pieces, formed the top of a man's head. She hadalso found the other eye and the ear by the time Omby Amby in a farcorner discovered the mouth. When the face was thus completed, allthe parts joined together with a nicety that was astonishing.

"Why, it's like a picture puzzle!" exclaimed the little girl."Let's find the rest of him, and get him all together."

"What's the rest of him like?" asked the Wizard. "Here are somepieces of blue legs and green arms, but I don't know whether they arehis or not."

"Look for a white shirt and a white apron," said the head which hadbeen put together, speaking in a rather faint voice. "I'm the cook."

"Oh, thank you," said Dorothy. "It's lucky we started you first, forI'm hungry, and you can be cooking something for us to eat while wematch the other folks together."

It was not so very difficult, now that they had a hint as to how theman was dressed, to find the other pieces belonging to him, and as allof them now worked on the cook, trying piece after piece to see if itwould fit, they finally had the cook set up complete.

When he was finished he made them a low bow and said:

"I will go at once to the kitchen to prepare your dinner. You willfind it something of a job to get all the Fuddles together, so Iadvise you to begin on the Lord High Chigglewitz, whose first name isLarry. He's a bald-headed fat man and is dressed in a blue coat withbrass buttons, a pink vest and drab breeches. A piece of his leftknee is missing, having been lost years ago when he scattered himselftoo carelessly. That makes him limp a little, but he gets along verywell with half a knee. As he is the chief personage in this town ofFuddlecumjig, he will be able to welcome you and assist you with theothers. So it will be best to work on him while I'm getting your dinner."

"We will," said the Wizard; "and thank you very much, Cook,for the suggestion."

Aunt Em was the first to discover a piece of the Lord High Chigglewitz.

"It seems to me like a fool business, this matching folks together,"she remarked; "but as we haven't anything to do till dinner's ready,we may as well get rid of some of this rubbish. Here, Henry, get busyand look for Larry's bald head. I've got his pink vest, all right."

They worked with eager interest, and Billina proved a great help tothem. The Yellow Hen had sharp eyes and could put her head close tothe various pieces that lay scattered around. She would examine theLord High Chigglewitz and see which piece of him was next needed, andthen hunt around until she found it. So before an hour had passedold Larry was standing complete before them.

"I congratulate you, my friends," he said, speaking in a cheerfulvoice. "You are certainly the cleverest people who ever visited us.I was never matched together so quickly in my life. I'm considered agreat puzzle, usually."

"Well," said Dorothy, "there used to be a picture puzzle craze inKansas, and so I've had some 'sperience matching puzzles. But thepictures were flat, while you are round, and that makes you harder tofigure out."

"Thank you, my dear," replied old Larry, greatly pleased. "I feelhighly complimented. Were I not a really good puzzle, there would beno object in my scattering myself."

"Why do you do it?" asked Aunt Em, severely. "Why don't you behaveyourself, and stay put together?"

The Lord High Chigglewitz seemed annoyed by this speech; but hereplied, politely:

"Madam, you have perhaps noticed that every person has somepeculiarity. Mine is to scatter myself. What your own peculiarity isI will not venture to say; but I shall never find fault with you,whatever you do."

"Now you've got your diploma, Em," said Uncle Henry, with a laugh,"and I'm glad of it. This is a queer country, and we may as welltake people as we find them."

"If we did, we'd leave these folks scattered," she returned, and thisretort made everybody laugh good-naturedly.

Just then Omby Amby found a hand with a knitting needle in it, andthey decided to put Grandmother Gnit together. She proved an easierpuzzle than old Larry, and when she was completed they found her apleasant old lady who welcomed them cordially. Dorothy told her howthe kangaroo had lost her mittens, and Grandmother Gnit promised toset to work at once and make the poor animal another pair.

Then the cook came to call them to dinner, and they found an invitingmeal prepared for them. The Lord High Chigglewitz sat at the head ofthe table and Grandmother Gnit at the foot, and the guests had a merrytime and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

After dinner they went out into the yard and matched several otherpeople together, and this work was so interesting that they might havespent the entire day at Fuddlecumjig had not the Wizard suggested thatthey resume their journey.

"But I don't like to leave all these poor people scattered," saidDorothy, undecided what to do.

"Oh, don't mind us, my dear," returned old Larry. "Every day or sosome of the Gillikins, or Munchkins, or Winkies come here to amusethemselves by matching us together, so there will be no harm in leavingthese pieces where they are for a time. But I hope you will visit usagain, and if you do you will always be welcome, I assure you."

"Don't you ever match each other?" she inquired.

"Never; for we are no puzzles to ourselves, and so there wouldn't beany fun in it."

They now said goodbye to the queer Fuddles and got into their wagon tocontinue their journey.

"Those are certainly strange people," remarked Aunt Em, thoughtfully,as they drove away from Fuddlecumjig, "but I really can't see what usethey are, at all."

"Why, they amused us all for several hours," replied the Wizard."That is being of use to us, I'm sure."

"I think they're more fun than playing solitaire or mumbletypeg,"declared Uncle Henry, soberly. "For my part, I'm glad we visitedthe Fuddles."