When Cap'n Bill and Trot and the Glass Cat had started for thehidden island in the far-off river to get the Magic Flower, Dorothywondered again what she could give Ozma on her birthday. She met thePatchwork Girl and said:

"What are you going to give Ozma for a birthday present?"

"I've written a song for her," answered the strange Patchwork Girl,who went by the name of "Scraps," and who, through stuffed withcotton, had a fair assortment of mixed brains. "It's a splendid songand the chorus runs this way:

I am crazy;You're a daisy,Ozma dear;I'm demented;You're contented,Ozma dear; I am patched and gay and glary;You're a sweet and lovely fairy;May your birthdays all be happy,Ozma dear!"

"How do you like it, Dorothy?" inquired the Patchwork Girl.

"Is it good poetry, Scraps?" asked Dorothy, doubtfully.

"It's as good as any ordinary song," was the reply. "I have givenit a dandy title, too. I shall call the song: 'When Ozma Has aBirthday, Everybody's Sure to Be Gay, for She Cannot Help the FactThat She Was Born.'"

"That's a pretty long title, Scraps," said Dorothy.

"That makes it stylish," replied the Patchwork Girl, turning asomersault and alighting on one stuffed foot. "Now-a-days the titlesare sometimes longer than the songs."

Dorothy left her and walked slowly toward the place, where she metthe Tin Woodman just going up the front steps.

"What are you going to give Ozma on her birthday?" she asked.

"It's a secret, but I'll tell you," replied the Tin Woodman, who wasEmperor of the Winkies. "I am having my people make Ozma a lovelygirdle set with beautiful tin nuggets. Each tin nugget will besurrounded by a circle of emeralds, just to set it off to good advantage.The clasp of the girdle will be pure tin! Won't that be fine?"

"I'm sure she'll like it," said Dorothy. "Do you know what I cangive her?"

"I haven't the slightest idea, Dorothy. It took me three months tothink of my own present for Ozma."

The girl walked thoughtfully around to the back of the palace, andpresently came upon the famous Scarecrow of Oz, who has having two ofthe palace servants stuff his legs with fresh straw.

"What are you going to give Ozma on her birthday?" asked Dorothy.

"I want to surprise her," answered the Scarecrow.

"I won't tell," promised Dorothy.

"Well, I'm having some straw slippers made for her--all straw, mindyou, and braided very artistically. Ozma has always admired my strawfilling, so I'm sure she'll be pleased with these lovely straw slippers."

"Ozma will be pleased with anything her loving friends give her,"said the girl. "What I'M worried about, Scarecrow, is what to giveOzma that she hasn't got already."

"That's what worried me, until I thought of the slippers," said theScarecrow. "You'll have to THINK, Dorothy; that's the only way to geta good idea. If I hadn't such wonderful brains, I'd never havethought of those straw foot-decorations."

Dorothy left him and went to her room, where she sat down and triedto think hard. A Pink Kitten was curled up on the window-sill andDorothy asked her:

"What can I give Ozma for her birthday present?"

"Oh, give her some milk," replied the Pink Kitten; "that's thenicest thing I know of."

A fuzzy little black dog had squatted down at Dorothy's feet and nowlooked up at her with intelligent eyes.

"Tell me, Toto," said the girl; "what would Ozma like best for abirthday present?"

The little black dog wagged his tail.

"Your love," said he. "Ozma wants to be loved more than anything else."

"But I already love her, Toto!"

"Then tell her you love her twice as much as you ever did before."

"That wouldn't be true," objected Dorothy, "for I've always lovedher as much as I could, and, really, Toto, I want to give Ozma somePRESENT, 'cause everyone else will give her a present."

"Let me see," said Toto. "How would it be to give her that uselessPink Kitten?"

"No, Toto; that wouldn't do."

"Then six kisses."

"No; that's no present."

"Well, I guess you'll have to figure it out for yourself, Dorothy,"said the little dog. "To MY notion you're more particular than Ozmawill be."

Dorothy decided that if anyone could help her it would be Glinda theGood, the wonderful Sorceress of Oz who was Ozma's faithful subjectand friend. But Glinda's castle was in the Quadling Country and quitea journey from the Emerald City.

So the little girl went to Ozma and asked permission to use the WoodenSawhorse and the royal Red Wagon to pay a visit to Glinda, and the girlRuler kissed Princess Dorothy and graciously granted permission.

The Wooden Sawhorse was one of the most remarkable creatures in Oz.Its body was a small log and its legs were limbs of trees stuck in thebody. Its eyes were knots, its mouth was sawed in the end of the logand its ears were two chips. A small branch had been left at the rearend of the log to serve as a tail.

Ozma herself, during one of her early adventures, had brought thiswooden horse to life, and so she was much attached to the queer animaland had shod the bottoms of its wooden legs with plates of gold sothey would not wear out. The Sawhorse was a swift and willingtraveler, and though it could talk if need arose, it seldom saidanything unless spoken to. When the Sawhorse was harnessed to the RedWagon there were no reins to guide him because all that was needed wasto tell him where to go.

Dorothy now told him to go to Glinda's Castle and the Sawhorsecarried her there with marvelous speed.

"Glinda," said Dorothy, when she had been greeted by the Sorceress,who was tall and stately, with handsome and dignified features anddressed in a splendid and becoming gown, "what are you going to giveOzma for a birthday present?"

The Sorceress smiled and answered:

"Come into my patio and I will show you."

So they entered a place that was surrounded by the wings of thegreat castle but had no roof, and was filled with flowers andfountains and exquisite statuary and many settees and chairs ofpolished marble or filigree gold. Here there were gathered fiftybeautiful young girls, Glinda's handmaids, who had been selected fromall parts of the Land of Oz on account of their wit and beauty and sweetdispositions. It was a great honor to be made one of Glinda's handmaidens.

When Dorothy followed the Sorceress into this delightful patio allthe fifty girls were busily weaving, and their shuttles were filledwith a sparkling green spun glass such as the little girl had neverseen before.

"What is it, Glinda?" she asked.

"One of my recent discoveries," explained the Sorceress. "I havefound a way to make threads from emeralds, by softening the stones andthen spinning them into long, silken strands. With these emeraldthreads we are weaving cloth to make Ozma a splendid court gown forher birthday. You will notice that the threads have all the beautifulglitter and luster of the emeralds from which they are made, and soOzma's new dress will be the most magnificent the world has ever seen,and quite fitting for our lovely Ruler of the Fairyland of Oz."

Dorothy's eyes were fairly dazed by the brilliance of the emeraldcloth, some of which the girls had already woven.

"I've never seen ANYthing so beautiful!" she said, with a sigh."But tell me, Glinda, what can I give our lovely Ozma on her birthday?"

The good Sorceress considered this question for a long time beforeshe replied. Finally she said:

"Of course there will be a grand feast at the Royal Palace on Ozma'sbirthday, and all our friends will be present. So I suggest that youmake a fine big birthday cake of Ozma, and surround it with candles."

"Oh, just a CAKE!" exclaimed Dorothy, in disappointment.

"Nothing is nicer for a birthday," said the Sorceress.

"How many candles should there be on the cake?" asked the girl.

"Just a row of them," replied Glinda, "for no one knows how old Ozmais, although she appears to us to be just a young girl--as fresh andfair as if she had lived but a few years."

"A cake doesn't seem like much of a present," Dorothy asserted.

"Make it a surprise cake," suggested the Sorceress. "Don't youremember the four and twenty blackbirds that were baked in a pie?Well, you need not use live blackbirds in your cake, but you couldhave some surprise of a different sort."

"Like what?" questioned Dorothy, eagerly.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be YOUR present to Ozma, but MINE,"answered the Sorceress, with a smile. "Think it over, my dear, and Iam sure you can originate a surprise that will add greatly to the joyand merriment of Ozma's birthday banquet."

Dorothy thanked her friend and entered the Red Wagon and told theSawhorse to take her back home to the palace in the Emerald City.

On the way she thought the matter over seriously of making asurprise birthday cake and finally decided what to do.

As soon as she reached home, she went to the Wizard of Oz, who had aroom fitted up in one of the high towers of the palace, where hestudied magic so as to be able to perform such wizardry as Ozmacommanded him to do for the welfare of her subjects.

The Wizard and Dorothy were firm friends and had enjoyed manystrange adventures together. He was a little man with a bald head andsharp eyes and a round, jolly face, and because he was neither haughtynor proud he had become a great favorite with the Oz people.

"Wizard," said Dorothy, "I want you to help me fix up a present forOzma's birthday."

"I'll be glad to do anything for you and for Ozma," he answered."What's on your mind, Dorothy?"

"I'm going to make a great cake, with frosting and candles, and allthat, you know."

"Very good," said the Wizard.

"In the center of this cake I'm going to leave a hollow place, withjust a roof of the frosting over it," continued the girl.

"Very good," repeated the Wizard, nodding his bald head.

"In that hollow place," said Dorothy, "I want to hide a lot ofmonkeys about three inches high, and after the cake is placed on thebanquet table, I want the monkeys to break through the frosting anddance around on the table-cloth. Then, I want each monkey to cut outa piece of cake and hand it to a guest."

"Mercy me!" cried the little Wizard, as he chuckled with laughter."Is that ALL you want, Dorothy?"

"Almost," said she. "Can you think of anything more the littlemonkeys can do, Wizard?"

"Not just now," he replied. "But where will you get such tiny monkeys?"

"That's where you're to help me," said Dorothy. "In some of thosewild forests in the Gillikin Country are lots of monkeys."

"Big ones," said the Wizard.

"Well, you and I will go there, and we'll get some of the bigmonkeys, and you will make them small--just three inches high--bymeans of your magic, and we'll put the little monkeys all in a basketand bring them home with us. Then you'll train them to dance--up herein your room, where no one can see them--and on Ozma's birthday we'llput 'em into the cake and they'll know by that time just what to do."

The Wizard looked at Dorothy with admiring approval, and chuckled again.

"That's really clever, my dear," he said, "and I see no reason whywe can't do it, just the way you say, if only we can get the wildmonkeys to agree to it."

"Do you think they'll object?" asked the girl.

"Yes; but perhaps we can argue them into it. Anyhow it's worthtrying, and I'll help you if you'll agree to let this Surprise Cake bea present to Ozma from you and me together. I've been wondering whatI could give Ozma, and as I've got to train the monkeys as well asmake them small, I think you ought to make me your partner."

"Of course," said Dorothy; "I'll be glad to do so."

"Then it's a bargain," declared the Wizard. "We must go to seekthose monkeys at once, however, for it will take time to train them andwe'll have to travel a good way to the Gillikin forests where they live."

"I'm ready to go any time," agreed Dorothy. "Shall we ask Ozma tolet us take the Sawhorse?"

The Wizard did not answer that at once. He took time to think ofthe suggestion.

"No," he answered at length, "the Red Wagon couldn't get through thethick forests and there's some danger to us in going into the wildplaces to search for monkeys. So I propose we take the Cowardly Lionand the Hungry Tiger. We can ride on their backs as well as in theRed Wagon, and if there is danger to us from other beasts, these twofriendly champions will protect us from all harm."

"That's a splendid idea!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Let's go now and askthe Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion if they will help us. Shall weask Ozma if we can go?"

"I think not," said the Wizard, getting his hat and his black bag ofmagic tools. "This is to be a surprise for her birthday, and so shemustn't know where we're going. We'll just leave word, in case Ozmainquires for us, that we'll be back in a few days."