After climbing down from the china wall the travelers foundthemselves in a disagreeable country, full of bogs and marshes andcovered with tall, rank grass. It was difficult to walk withoutfalling into muddy holes, for the grass was so thick that it hidthem from sight. However, by carefully picking their way, theygot safely along until they reached solid ground. But here thecountry seemed wilder than ever, and after a long and tiresomewalk through the underbrush they entered another forest, where thetrees were bigger and older than any they had ever seen.

"This forest is perfectly delightful," declared the Lion, lookingaround him with joy. "Never have I seen a more beautiful place."

"It seems gloomy," said the Scarecrow.

"Not a bit of it," answered the Lion. "I should like to livehere all my life. See how soft the dried leaves are under yourfeet and how rich and green the moss is that clings to these oldtrees. Surely no wild beast could wish a pleasanter home."

"Perhaps there are wild beasts in the forest now," said Dorothy.

"I suppose there are," returned the Lion, "but I do not seeany of them about."

They walked through the forest until it became too dark to goany farther. Dorothy and Toto and the Lion lay down to sleep,while the Woodman and the Scarecrow kept watch over them as usual.

When morning came, they started again. Before they had gonefar they heard a low rumble, as of the growling of many wild animals.Toto whimpered a little, but none of the others was frightened,and they kept along the well-trodden path until they came toan opening in the wood, in which were gathered hundreds ofbeasts of every variety. There were tigers and elephants andbears and wolves and foxes and all the others in the naturalhistory, and for a moment Dorothy was afraid. But the Lionexplained that the animals were holding a meeting, and he judgedby their snarling and growling that they were in great trouble.

As he spoke several of the beasts caught sight of him, and atonce the great assemblage hushed as if by magic. The biggest ofthe tigers came up to the Lion and bowed, saying:

"Welcome, O King of Beasts! You have come in good time tofight our enemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forestonce more."

"What is your trouble?" asked the Lion quietly.

"We are all threatened," answered the tiger, "by a fierceenemy which has lately come into this forest. It is a mosttremendous monster, like a great spider, with a body as big as anelephant and legs as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of theselong legs, and as the monster crawls through the forest he seizesan animal with a leg and drags it to his mouth, where he eats itas a spider does a fly. Not one of us is safe while this fiercecreature is alive, and we had called a meeting to decide how totake care of ourselves when you came among us."

The Lion thought for a moment.

"Are there any other lions in this forest?" he asked.

"No; there were some, but the monster has eaten them all. And,besides, they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you."

"If I put an end to your enemy, will you bow down to me andobey me as King of the Forest?" inquired the Lion.

"We will do that gladly," returned the tiger; and all theother beasts roared with a mighty roar: "We will!"

"Where is this great spider of yours now?" asked the Lion.

"Yonder, among the oak trees," said the tiger, pointing withhis forefoot.

"Take good care of these friends of mine," said the Lion, "andI will go at once to fight the monster."

He bade his comrades good-bye and marched proudly away to dobattle with the enemy.

The great spider was lying asleep when the Lion found him,and it looked so ugly that its foe turned up his nose in disgust.Its legs were quite as long as the tiger had said, and its bodycovered with coarse black hair. It had a great mouth, with a rowof sharp teeth a foot long; but its head was joined to the pudgybody by a neck as slender as a wasp's waist. This gave the Lion ahint of the best way to attack the creature, and as he knew it waseasier to fight it asleep than awake, he gave a great spring andlanded directly upon the monster's back. Then, with one blow ofhis heavy paw, all armed with sharp claws, he knocked the spider'shead from its body. Jumping down, he watched it until the longlegs stopped wiggling, when he knew it was quite dead.

The Lion went back to the opening where the beasts of theforest were waiting for him and said proudly:

"You need fear your enemy no longer."

Then the beasts bowed down to the Lion as their King, and hepromised to come back and rule over them as soon as Dorothy wassafely on her way to Kansas.