When Dorothy awoke the sun was shining through the trees andToto had long been out chasing birds around him and squirrels.She sat up and looked around her. Scarecrow, still standingpatiently in his corner, waiting for her.

"We must go and search for water," she said to him.

"Why do you want water?" he asked.

"To wash my face clean after the dust of the road, and todrink, so the dry bread will not stick in my throat."

"It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh," said theScarecrow thoughtfully, "for you must sleep, and eat and drink.However, you have brains, and it is worth a lot of bother to beable to think properly."

They left the cottage and walked through the trees until theyfound a little spring of clear water, where Dorothy drank andbathed and ate her breakfast. She saw there was not much breadleft in the basket, and the girl was thankful the Scarecrow didnot have to eat anything, for there was scarcely enough forherself and Toto for the day.

When she had finished her meal, and was about to go back to theroad of yellow brick, she was startled to hear a deep groan near by.

"What was that?" she asked timidly.

"I cannot imagine," replied the Scarecrow; "but we can go and see."

Just then another groan reached their ears, and the soundseemed to come from behind them. They turned and walked throughthe forest a few steps, when Dorothy discovered something shiningin a ray of sunshine that fell between the trees. She ran to theplace and then stopped short, with a little cry of surprise.

One of the big trees had been partly chopped through, andstanding beside it, with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a manmade entirely of tin. His head and arms and legs were jointedupon his body, but he stood perfectly motionless, as if he couldnot stir at all.

Dorothy looked at him in amazement, and so did the Scarecrow,while Toto barked sharply and made a snap at the tin legs, whichhurt his teeth.

"Did you groan?" asked Dorothy.

"Yes," answered the tin man, "I did. I've been groaning for morethan a year, and no one has ever heard me before or come to help me."

"What can I do for you?" she inquired softly, for she wasmoved by the sad voice in which the man spoke.

"Get an oil-can and oil my joints," he answered. "They arerusted so badly that I cannot move them at all; if I am well oiledI shall soon be all right again. You will find an oil-can on ashelf in my cottage."

Dorothy at once ran back to the cottage and found the oil-can,and then she returned and asked anxiously, "Where are your joints?"

"Oil my neck, first," replied the Tin Woodman. So she oiled it,and as it was quite badly rusted the Scarecrow took hold of the tinhead and moved it gently from side to side until it worked freely,and then the man could turn it himself.

"Now oil the joints in my arms," he said. And Dorothy oiledthem and the Scarecrow bent them carefully until they were quitefree from rust and as good as new.

The Tin Woodman gave a sigh of satisfaction and lowered hisaxe, which he leaned against the tree.

"This is a great comfort," he said. "I have been holding thataxe in the air ever since I rusted, and I'm glad to be able to putit down at last. Now, if you will oil the joints of my legs, Ishall be all right once more."

So they oiled his legs until he could move them freely; and hethanked them again and again for his release, for he seemed a verypolite creature, and very grateful.

"I might have stood there always if you had not come along," he said;"so you have certainly saved my life. How did you happen to be here?"

"We are on our way to the Emerald City to see the Great Oz,"she answered, "and we stopped at your cottage to pass the night."

"Why do you wish to see Oz?" he asked.

"I want him to send me back to Kansas, and the Scarecrow wantshim to put a few brains into his head," she replied.

The Tin Woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment. Then he said:

"Do you suppose Oz could give me a heart?"

"Why, I guess so," Dorothy answered. "It would be as easy asto give the Scarecrow brains."

"True," the Tin Woodman returned. "So, if you will allow meto join your party, I will also go to the Emerald City and ask Ozto help me."

"Come along," said the Scarecrow heartily, and Dorothy addedthat she would be pleased to have his company. So the Tin Woodmanshouldered his axe and they all passed through the forest untilthey came to the road that was paved with yellow brick.

The Tin Woodman had asked Dorothy to put the oil-can in her basket."For," he said, "if I should get caught in the rain, and rust again,I would need the oil-can badly."

It was a bit of good luck to have their new comrade join theparty, for soon after they had begun their journey again they cameto a place where the trees and branches grew so thick over theroad that the travelers could not pass. But the Tin Woodman setto work with his axe and chopped so well that soon he cleared apassage for the entire party.

Dorothy was thinking so earnestly as they walked along thatshe did not notice when the Scarecrow stumbled into a hole androlled over to the side of the road. Indeed he was obliged tocall to her to help him up again.

"Why didn't you walk around the hole?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"I don't know enough," replied the Scarecrow cheerfully."My head is stuffed with straw, you know, and that is why I amgoing to Oz to ask him for some brains."

"Oh, I see," said the Tin Woodman. "But, after all, brainsare not the best things in the world."

"Have you any?" inquired the Scarecrow.

"No, my head is quite empty," answered the Woodman."But once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having triedthem both, I should much rather have a heart."

"And why is that?" asked the Scarecrow.

"I will tell you my story, and then you will know."

So, while they were walking through the forest, the Tin Woodmantold the following story:

"I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in theforest and sold the wood for a living. When I grew up, I too becamea woodchopper, and after my father died I took care of my old motheras long as she lived. Then I made up my mind that instead of livingalone I would marry, so that I might not become lonely.

"There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautifulthat I soon grew to love her with all my heart. She, on her part,promised to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money tobuild a better house for her; so I set to work harder than ever.But the girl lived with an old woman who did not want her to marryanyone, for she was so lazy she wished the girl to remain with herand do the cooking and the housework. So the old woman went tothe Wicked Witch of the East, and promised her two sheep and a cowif she would prevent the marriage. Thereupon the Wicked Witchenchanted my axe, and when I was chopping away at my best one day,for I was anxious to get the new house and my wife as soon aspossible, the axe slipped all at once and cut off my left leg.

"This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew aone-legged man could not do very well as a wood-chopper. So Iwent to a tinsmith and had him make me a new leg out of tin. Theleg worked very well, once I was used to it. But my actionangered the Wicked Witch of the East, for she had promised the oldwoman I should not marry the pretty Munchkin girl. When I beganchopping again, my axe slipped and cut off my right leg. Again Iwent to the tinsmith, and again he made me a leg out of tin.After this the enchanted axe cut off my arms, one after theother; but, nothing daunted, I had them replaced with tin ones.The Wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my head, andat first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinsmithhappened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.

"I thought I had beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I workedharder than ever; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be.She thought of a new way to kill my love for the beautifulMunchkin maiden, and made my axe slip again, so that it cut rightthrough my body, splitting me into two halves. Once more thetinsmith came to my help and made me a body of tin, fastening mytin arms and legs and head to it, by means of joints, so that Icould move around as well as ever. But, alas! I had now noheart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin girl, and didnot care whether I married her or not. I suppose she is stillliving with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.

"My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proudof it and it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it couldnot cut me. There was only one danger--that my joints wouldrust; but I kept an oil-can in my cottage and took care to oilmyself whenever I needed it. However, there came a day when Iforgot to do this, and, being caught in a rainstorm, before Ithought of the danger my joints had rusted, and I was left tostand in the woods until you came to help me. It was a terriblething to undergo, but during the year I stood there I had time tothink that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart.While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth; but no onecan love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved to ask Oz togive me one. If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin maidenand marry her."

Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interestedin the story of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was soanxious to get a new heart.

"All the same," said the Scarecrow, "I shall ask for brainsinstead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with aheart if he had one."

"I shall take the heart," returned the Tin Woodman; "forbrains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thingin the world."

Dorothy did not say anything, for she was puzzled to knowwhich of her two friends was right, and she decided if she couldonly get back to Kansas and Aunt Em, it did not matter so muchwhether the Woodman had no brains and the Scarecrow no heart,or each got what he wanted.

What worried her most was that the bread was nearly gone, andanother meal for herself and Toto would empty the basket. To be sureneither the Woodman nor the Scarecrow ever ate anything, but she wasnot made of tin nor straw, and could not live unless she was fed.