While the Woodman was making a ladder from wood which he foundin the forest Dorothy lay down and slept, for she was tired by thelong walk. The Lion also curled himself up to sleep and Toto laybeside him.

The Scarecrow watched the Woodman while he worked, and said to him:

"I cannot think why this wall is here, nor what it is made of."

"Rest your brains and do not worry about the wall," replied the Woodman."When we have climbed over it, we shall know what is on the other side."

After a time the ladder was finished. It looked clumsy, butthe Tin Woodman was sure it was strong and would answer their purpose.The Scarecrow waked Dorothy and the Lion and Toto, and told them thatthe ladder was ready. The Scarecrow climbed up the ladder first, buthe was so awkward that Dorothy had to follow close behind and keep himfrom falling off. When he got his head over the top of the wall theScarecrow said, "Oh, my!"

"Go on," exclaimed Dorothy.

So the Scarecrow climbed farther up and sat down on the top ofthe wall, and Dorothy put her head over and cried, "Oh, my!" justas the Scarecrow had done.

Then Toto came up, and immediately began to bark, but Dorothymade him be still.

The Lion climbed the ladder next, and the Tin Woodman camelast; but both of them cried, "Oh, my!" as soon as they lookedover the wall. When they were all sitting in a row on the topof the wall, they looked down and saw a strange sight.

Before them was a great stretch of country having a floor assmooth and shining and white as the bottom of a big platter.Scattered around were many houses made entirely of china andpainted in the brightest colors. These houses were quite small,the biggest of them reaching only as high as Dorothy's waist.There were also pretty little barns, with china fences around them;and many cows and sheep and horses and pigs and chickens, all madeof china, were standing about in groups.

But the strangest of all were the people who lived in thisqueer country. There were milkmaids and shepherdesses, withbrightly colored bodices and golden spots all over their gowns;and princesses with most gorgeous frocks of silver and gold andpurple; and shepherds dressed in knee breeches with pink andyellow and blue stripes down them, and golden buckles on theirshoes; and princes with jeweled crowns upon their heads, wearingermine robes and satin doublets; and funny clowns in ruffled gowns,with round red spots upon their cheeks and tall, pointed caps.And, strangest of all, these people were all made of china, even totheir clothes, and were so small that the tallest of them was nohigher than Dorothy's knee.

No one did so much as look at the travelers at first, exceptone little purple china dog with an extra-large head, which cameto the wall and barked at them in a tiny voice, afterwards runningaway again.

"How shall we get down?" asked Dorothy.

They found the ladder so heavy they could not pull it up, sothe Scarecrow fell off the wall and the others jumped down upon himso that the hard floor would not hurt their feet. Of course theytook pains not to light on his head and get the pins in their feet.When all were safely down they picked up the Scarecrow, whose bodywas quite flattened out, and patted his straw into shape again.

"We must cross this strange place in order to get to the other side,"said Dorothy, "for it would be unwise for us to go any other way exceptdue South."

They began walking through the country of the china people,and the first thing they came to was a china milkmaid milking achina cow. As they drew near, the cow suddenly gave a kick andkicked over the stool, the pail, and even the milkmaid herself,and all fell on the china ground with a great clatter.

Dorothy was shocked to see that the cow had broken her legoff, and that the pail was lying in several small pieces, whilethe poor milkmaid had a nick in her left elbow.

"There!" cried the milkmaid angrily. "See what you have done!My cow has broken her leg, and I must take her to the mender'sshop and have it glued on again. What do you mean by coming hereand frightening my cow?"

"I'm very sorry," returned Dorothy. "Please forgive us."

But the pretty milkmaid was much too vexed to make any answer.She picked up the leg sulkily and led her cow away, the pooranimal limping on three legs. As she left them the milkmaid castmany reproachful glances over her shoulder at the clumsy strangers,holding her nicked elbow close to her side.

Dorothy was quite grieved at this mishap.

"We must be very careful here," said the kind-hearted Woodman,"or we may hurt these pretty little people so they will never get over it."

A little farther on Dorothy met a most beautifully dressedyoung Princess, who stopped short as she saw the strangers andstarted to run away.

Dorothy wanted to see more of the Princess, so she ran after her.But the china girl cried out:

"Don't chase me! Don't chase me!"

She had such a frightened little voice that Dorothy stoppedand said, "Why not?"

"Because," answered the Princess, also stopping, a safedistance away, "if I run I may fall down and break myself."

"But could you not be mended?" asked the girl.

"Oh, yes; but one is never so pretty after being mended, you know,"replied the Princess.

"I suppose not," said Dorothy.

"Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns," continued thechina lady, "who is always trying to stand upon his head. He hasbroken himself so often that he is mended in a hundred places, anddoesn't look at all pretty. Here he comes now, so you can see foryourself."

Indeed, a jolly little clown came walking toward them, andDorothy could see that in spite of his pretty clothes of red andyellow and green he was completely covered with cracks, runningevery which way and showing plainly that he had been mended inmany places.

The Clown put his hands in his pockets, and after puffing outhis cheeks and nodding his head at them saucily, he said:

"My lady fair,Why do you stareAt poor old Mr. Joker?You're quite as stiffAnd prim as ifYou'd eaten up a poker!"

"Be quiet, sir!" said the Princess. "Can't you see these arestrangers, and should be treated with respect?"

"Well, that's respect, I expect," declared the Clown,and immediately stood upon his head.

"Don't mind Mr. Joker," said the Princess to Dorothy. "He isconsiderably cracked in his head, and that makes him foolish."

"Oh, I don't mind him a bit," said Dorothy. "But you are sobeautiful," she continued, "that I am sure I could love you dearly.Won't you let me carry you back to Kansas, and stand you onAunt Em's mantel? I could carry you in my basket."

"That would make me very unhappy," answered the china Princess."You see, here in our country we live contentedly, and can talk andmove around as we please. But whenever any of us are taken away ourjoints at once stiffen, and we can only stand straight and look pretty.Of course that is all that is expected of us when we are on mantels andcabinets and drawing-room tables, but our lives are much pleasanterhere in our own country."

"I would not make you unhappy for all the world!" exclaimed Dorothy."So I'll just say good-bye."

"Good-bye," replied the Princess.

They walked carefully through the china country. The littleanimals and all the people scampered out of their way, fearing thestrangers would break them, and after an hour or so the travelersreached the other side of the country and came to another china wall.

It was not so high as the first, however, and by standing uponthe Lion's back they all managed to scramble to the top. Then theLion gathered his legs under him and jumped on the wall; but justas he jumped, he upset a china church with his tail and smashed itall to pieces.

"That was too bad," said Dorothy, "but really I think we werelucky in not doing these little people more harm than breaking acow's leg and a church. They are all so brittle!"

"They are, indeed," said the Scarecrow, "and I am thankful Iam made of straw and cannot be easily damaged. There are worsethings in the world than being a Scarecrow."