The four travelers walked up to the great gate of Emerald Cityand rang the bell. After ringing several times, it was opened bythe same Guardian of the Gates they had met before.

"What! are you back again?" he asked, in surprise.

"Do you not see us?" answered the Scarecrow.

"But I thought you had gone to visit the Wicked Witch of the West."

"We did visit her," said the Scarecrow.

"And she let you go again?" asked the man, in wonder.

"She could not help it, for she is melted," explained the Scarecrow.

"Melted! Well, that is good news, indeed," said the man."Who melted her?"

"It was Dorothy," said the Lion gravely.

"Good gracious!" exclaimed the man, and he bowed very low indeedbefore her.

Then he led them into his little room and locked the spectaclesfrom the great box on all their eyes, just as he had done before.Afterward they passed on through the gate into the Emerald City.When the people heard from the Guardian of the Gates that Dorothyhad melted the Wicked Witch of the West, they all gathered aroundthe travelers and followed them in a great crowd to the Palace of Oz.

The soldier with the green whiskers was still on guard beforethe door, but he let them in at once, and they were again met bythe beautiful green girl, who showed each of them to their oldrooms at once, so they might rest until the Great Oz was ready toreceive them.

The soldier had the news carried straight to Oz that Dorothyand the other travelers had come back again, after destroying theWicked Witch; but Oz made no reply. They thought the Great Wizardwould send for them at once, but he did not. They had no wordfrom him the next day, nor the next, nor the next. The waitingwas tiresome and wearing, and at last they grew vexed that Ozshould treat them in so poor a fashion, after sending them toundergo hardships and slavery. So the Scarecrow at last asked thegreen girl to take another message to Oz, saying if he did notlet them in to see him at once they would call the Winged Monkeysto help them, and find out whether he kept his promises or not.When the Wizard was given this message he was so frightened that hesent word for them to come to the Throne Room at four minutes afternine o'clock the next morning. He had once met the Winged Monkeysin the Land of the West, and he did not wish to meet them again.

The four travelers passed a sleepless night, each thinking of thegift Oz had promised to bestow on him. Dorothy fell asleep only once,and then she dreamed she was in Kansas, where Aunt Em was telling herhow glad she was to have her little girl at home again.

Promptly at nine o'clock the next morning the green-whiskeredsoldier came to them, and four minutes later they all went intothe Throne Room of the Great Oz.

Of course each one of them expected to see the Wizard in the shapehe had taken before, and all were greatly surprised when they lookedabout and saw no one at all in the room. They kept close to the doorand closer to one another, for the stillness of the empty room was moredreadful than any of the forms they had seen Oz take.

Presently they heard a solemn Voice, that seemed to come fromsomewhere near the top of the great dome, and it said:

"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Why do you seek me?"

They looked again in every part of the room, and then, seeingno one, Dorothy asked, "Where are you?"

"I am everywhere," answered the Voice, "but to the eyes ofcommon mortals I am invisible. I will now seat myself upon mythrone, that you may converse with me." Indeed, the Voice seemedjust then to come straight from the throne itself; so they walkedtoward it and stood in a row while Dorothy said:

"We have come to claim our promise, O Oz."

"What promise?" asked Oz.

"You promised to send me back to Kansas when the Wicked Witchwas destroyed," said the girl.

"And you promised to give me brains," said the Scarecrow.

"And you promised to give me a heart," said the Tin Woodman.

"And you promised to give me courage," said the Cowardly Lion.

"Is the Wicked Witch really destroyed?" asked the Voice,and Dorothy thought it trembled a little.

"Yes," she answered, "I melted her with a bucket of water."

"Dear me," said the Voice, "how sudden! Well, come to metomorrow, for I must have time to think it over."

"You've had plenty of time already," said the Tin Woodman angrily.

"We shan't wait a day longer," said the Scarecrow.

"You must keep your promises to us!" exclaimed Dorothy.

The Lion thought it might be as well to frighten the Wizard,so he gave a large, loud roar, which was so fierce and dreadfulthat Toto jumped away from him in alarm and tipped over the screenthat stood in a corner. As it fell with a crash they lookedthat way, and the next moment all of them were filled with wonder.For they saw, standing in just the spot the screen had hidden,a little old man, with a bald head and a wrinkled face, who seemedto be as much surprised as they were. The Tin Woodman, raisinghis axe, rushed toward the little man and cried out, "Who are you?"

"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible," said the little man, in atrembling voice. "But don't strike me--please don't--and I'lldo anything you want me to."

Our friends looked at him in surprise and dismay.

"I thought Oz was a great Head," said Dorothy.

"And I thought Oz was a lovely Lady," said the Scarecrow.

"And I thought Oz was a terrible Beast," said the Tin Woodman.

"And I thought Oz was a Ball of Fire," exclaimed the Lion.

"No, you are all wrong," said the little man meekly. "I havebeen making believe."

"Making believe!" cried Dorothy. "Are you not a Great Wizard?"

"Hush, my dear," he said. "Don't speak so loud, or you will beoverheard--and I should be ruined. I'm supposed to be a Great Wizard."

"And aren't you?" she asked.

"Not a bit of it, my dear; I'm just a common man."

"You're more than that," said the Scarecrow, in a grieved tone;"you're a humbug."

"Exactly so!" declared the little man, rubbing his handstogether as if it pleased him. "I am a humbug."

"But this is terrible," said the Tin Woodman. "How shall Iever get my heart?"

"Or I my courage?" asked the Lion.

"Or I my brains?" wailed the Scarecrow, wiping the tears fromhis eyes with his coat sleeve.

"My dear friends," said Oz, "I pray you not to speak of theselittle things. Think of me, and the terrible trouble I'm in atbeing found out."

"Doesn't anyone else know you're a humbug?" asked Dorothy.

"No one knows it but you four--and myself," replied Oz. "Ihave fooled everyone so long that I thought I should never befound out. It was a great mistake my ever letting you into theThrone Room. Usually I will not see even my subjects, and so theybelieve I am something terrible."

"But, I don't understand," said Dorothy, in bewilderment."How was it that you appeared to me as a great Head?"

"That was one of my tricks," answered Oz. "Step this way,please, and I will tell you all about it."

He led the way to a small chamber in the rear of the ThroneRoom, and they all followed him. He pointed to one corner, inwhich lay the great Head, made out of many thicknesses of paper,and with a carefully painted face.

"This I hung from the ceiling by a wire," said Oz. "I stoodbehind the screen and pulled a thread, to make the eyes move andthe mouth open."

"But how about the voice?" she inquired.

"Oh, I am a ventriloquist," said the little man. "I can throwthe sound of my voice wherever I wish, so that you thought it wascoming out of the Head. Here are the other things I used todeceive you." He showed the Scarecrow the dress and the mask hehad worn when he seemed to be the lovely Lady. And the TinWoodman saw that his terrible Beast was nothing but a lot ofskins, sewn together, with slats to keep their sides out. As forthe Ball of Fire, the false Wizard had hung that also from theceiling. It was really a ball of cotton, but when oil was pouredupon it the ball burned fiercely.

"Really," said the Scarecrow, "you ought to be ashamed ofyourself for being such a humbug."

"I am--I certainly am," answered the little man sorrowfully;"but it was the only thing I could do. Sit down, please, thereare plenty of chairs; and I will tell you my story."

So they sat down and listened while he told the following tale.

"I was born in Omaha--"

"Why, that isn't very far from Kansas!" cried Dorothy.

"No, but it's farther from here," he said, shaking his head ather sadly. "When I grew up I became a ventriloquist, and at thatI was very well trained by a great master. I can imitate any kindof a bird or beast." Here he mewed so like a kitten that Totopricked up his ears and looked everywhere to see where she was."After a time," continued Oz, "I tired of that, and became aballoonist."

"What is that?" asked Dorothy.

"A man who goes up in a balloon on circus day, so as to draw acrowd of people together and get them to pay to see the circus,"he explained.

"Oh," she said, "I know."

"Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes gottwisted, so that I couldn't come down again. It went way up abovethe clouds, so far that a current of air struck it and carried itmany, many miles away. For a day and a night I traveled throughthe air, and on the morning of the second day I awoke and foundthe balloon floating over a strange and beautiful country.

"It came down gradually, and I was not hurt a bit. But Ifound myself in the midst of a strange people, who, seeing me comefrom the clouds, thought I was a great Wizard. Of course I letthem think so, because they were afraid of me, and promised to doanything I wished them to.

"Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, Iordered them to build this City, and my Palace; and they did itall willingly and well. Then I thought, as the country was sogreen and beautiful, I would call it the Emerald City; and to makethe name fit better I put green spectacles on all the people, sothat everything they saw was green."

"But isn't everything here green?" asked Dorothy.

"No more than in any other city," replied Oz; "but when youwear green spectacles, why of course everything you see looksgreen to you. The Emerald City was built a great many years ago,for I was a young man when the balloon brought me here, and I am avery old man now. But my people have worn green glasses on theireyes so long that most of them think it really is an Emerald City,and it certainly is a beautiful place, abounding in jewels andprecious metals, and every good thing that is needed to makeone happy. I have been good to the people, and they like me;but ever since this Palace was built, I have shut myself upand would not see any of them.

"One of my greatest fears was the Witches, for while I had nomagical powers at all I soon found out that the Witches werereally able to do wonderful things. There were four of them inthis country, and they ruled the people who live in the North andSouth and East and West. Fortunately, the Witches of the Northand South were good, and I knew they would do me no harm; but theWitches of the East and West were terribly wicked, and had theynot thought I was more powerful than they themselves, they wouldsurely have destroyed me. As it was, I lived in deadly fear ofthem for many years; so you can imagine how pleased I was whenI heard your house had fallen on the Wicked Witch of the East.When you came to me, I was willing to promise anything if youwould only do away with the other Witch; but, now that you havemelted her, I am ashamed to say that I cannot keep my promises."

"I think you are a very bad man," said Dorothy.

"Oh, no, my dear; I'm really a very good man, but I'm a verybad Wizard, I must admit."

"Can't you give me brains?" asked the Scarecrow.

"You don't need them. You are learning something every day.A baby has brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is theonly thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earththe more experience you are sure to get."

"That may all be true," said the Scarecrow, "but I shall bevery unhappy unless you give me brains."

The false Wizard looked at him carefully.

"Well," he said with a sigh, "I'm not much of a magician,as I said; but if you will come to me tomorrow morning, I willstuff your head with brains. I cannot tell you how to use them,however; you must find that out for yourself."

"Oh, thank you--thank you!" cried the Scarecrow. "I'll finda way to use them, never fear!"

"But how about my courage?" asked the Lion anxiously.

"You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "All you needis confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraidwhen it faces danger. The True courage is in facing danger when you areafraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty."

"Perhaps I have, but I'm scared just the same," said the Lion."I shall really be very unhappy unless you give me the sort ofcourage that makes one forget he is afraid."

"Very well, I will give you that sort of courage tomorrow,"replied Oz.

"How about my heart?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"Why, as for that," answered Oz, "I think you are wrong towant a heart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it,you are in luck not to have a heart."

"That must be a matter of opinion," said the Tin Woodman."For my part, I will bear all the unhappiness without a murmur,if you will give me the heart."

"Very well," answered Oz meekly. "Come to me tomorrow and youshall have a heart. I have played Wizard for so many years that Imay as well continue the part a little longer."

"And now," said Dorothy, "how am I to get back to Kansas?"

"We shall have to think about that," replied the little man."Give me two or three days to consider the matter and I'll try tofind a way to carry you over the desert. In the meantime youshall all be treated as my guests, and while you live in the Palacemy people will wait upon you and obey your slightest wish. There isonly one thing I ask in return for my help--such as it is. You mustkeep my secret and tell no one I am a humbug."

They agreed to say nothing of what they had learned, and wentback to their rooms in high spirits. Even Dorothy had hope that"The Great and Terrible Humbug," as she called him, would find away to send her back to Kansas, and if he did she was willing toforgive him everything.