"Quick!" cried Polychrome the Canary; "we must hurry,or Mrs. Yoop may find some way to recapture us, evennow. Let us get out of her Valley as soon as possible."

So they set off toward the east, moving as swiftly asthey could, and for a long time they could hear theyells and struggles of the imprisoned Giantess. TheGreen Monkey could run over the ground very swiftly,and he carried with him the bird-cage containingPolychrome the Rain-bow's Daughter. Also the Tin Owlcould skip and fly along at a good rate of speed, hisfeathers rattling against one another with a tinklingsound as he moved. But the little Brown Bear, beingstuffed with straw, was a clumsy traveler and theothers had to wait for him to follow.

However, they were not very long in reaching theridge that led out of Mrs. Yoop's Valley, and when theyhad passed this ridge and descended into the nextvalley they stopped to rest, for the Green Monkey wastired.

"I believe we are safe, now," said Polychrome, whenher cage was set down and the others had all gatheredaround it, "for Mrs. Yoop dares not go outside of herown Valley, for fear of being captured by her enemies.So we may take our time to consider what to do next."

"I'm afraid poor Mrs. Yoop will starve to death, ifno one lets her out of her bedroom," said Woot, who hada heart as kind as that of the Tin Woodman. "We'vetaken her Magic Apron away, and now the doors willnever open."

"Don't worry about that," advised Polychrome. "Mrs.Yoop has plenty of magic left to console her."

"Are you sure of that?" asked the Green Monkey.

"Yes, for I've been watching her for weeks," said theCanary. "She has six magic hairpins, which she wears inher hair, and a magic ring which she wears on her thumband which is invisible to all eyes except those of afairy, and magic bracelets on both her ankles. So I ampositive that she will manage to find a way out of herprison."

"She might transform the door into an archway,"suggested the little Brown Bear.

"That would be easy for her," said the Tin Owl; "butI'm glad she was too angry to think of that before wegot out of her Valley."

"Well, we have escaped the big woman, to be sure,"remarked the Green Monkey, "but we still wear theawful forms the cruel yookoohoo gave us. How are wegoing to get rid of these shapes, and become ourselvesagain?"

None could answer that question. They sat around thecage, brooding over the problem, until the Monkey fellasleep. Seeing this, the Canary tucked her head underher wing and also slept, and the Tin Owl and the BrownBear did not disturb them until morning came and it wasbroad daylight.

"I'm hungry," said Woot, when he wakened, for hisknapsack of food had been left behind at the castle.

"Then let us travel on until we can find somethingfor you to eat," returned the Scarecrow Bear.

"There is no use in your lugging my cage anyfarther," declared the Canary. "Let me out, and throwthe cage away. Then I can fly with you and find my ownbreakfast of seeds. Also I can search for water, andtell you where to find it."

So the Green Monkey unfastened the door of the goldencage and the Canary hopped out. At first she flew highin the air and made great circles overhead, but after atime she returned and perched beside them.

"At the east in the direction we were following,"announced the Canary, "there is a fine forest, with abrook running through it. In the forest there may befruits or nuts growing, or berry bushes at its edge, solet us go that way."

They agreed to this and promptly set off, this timemoving more deliberately. The Tin Owl, which had guidedtheir way during the night, now found the sunshine verytrying to his big eyes, so he shut them tight andperched upon the back of the little Brown Bear, whichcarried the Owl's weight with ease. The Canarysometimes perched upon the Green Monkey's shoulder andsometimes fluttered on ahead of the party, and in thismanner they traveled in good spirits across that valleyand into the next one to the east of it.

This they found to be an immense hollow, shaped likea saucer, and on its farther edge appeared the forestwhich Polychrome had seen from the sky.

"Come to think of it," said the Tin Owl, waking upand blinking comically at his friends, "there's noobject, now, in our traveling to the Munchkin Country.My idea in going there was to marry Nimmie Amee, buthowever much the Munchkin girl may have loved a TinWoodman, I cannot reasonably expect her to marry a TinOwl."

"There is some truth in that, my friend," remarkedthe Brown Bear. "And to think that I, who wasconsidered the handsomest Scarecrow in the world, amnow condemned to be a scrubby, no-account beast, whoseonly redeeming feature is that he is stuffed withstraw!"

"Consider my case, please," said Woot. "The cruelGiantess has made a Monkey of a Boy, and that is themost dreadful deed of all!"

"Your color is rather pretty," said the Brown Bear,eyeing Woot critically. "I have never seen a pea-greenmonkey before, and it strikes me you are quitegorgeous."

"It isn't so bad to be a bird," asserted the Canary,fluttering from one to another with a free and gracefulmotion, "but I long to enjoy my own shape a gam."

"As Polychrome, you were the loveliest maiden I haveever seen -- except, of course, Ozma," said the TinOwl; "so the Giantess did well to transform you intothe loveliest of all birds, if you were to betransformed at all. But tell me, since you are a fairy,and have a fairy wisdom: do you think we shall be ableto break these enchantments?"

"Queer things happen in the Land of Oz," replied theCanary, again perching on the Green Monkey's shoulderand turning one bright eye thoughtfully toward herquestioner. "Mrs. Yoop has declared that none of hertransformations can ever be changed, even by herself,but I believe that if we could get to Glinda the GoodSorceress, she might find a way to restore us to ournatural shapes. Glinda, as you know, is the mostpowerful Sorceress in the world, and there are fewthings she cannot do if she tries."

"In that case," said the Little Brown Bear, "let usreturn southward and try to get to Glinda's castle. Itlies in the Quadling Country, you know, so it is a goodway from here."

"First, however, let us visit the forest and searchfor something to eat," pleaded Woot. So they continuedon to the edge of the forest, which consisted of manytall and beautiful trees. They discovered no fruittrees, at first, so the Green Monkey pushed on into theforest depths and the others followed close behind him.

They were traveling quietly along, under the shade ofthe trees, when suddenly an enormous jaguar leaped uponthem from a limb and with one blow of his paw sent thelittle Brown Bear tumbling over and over until he wasstopped by a tree-trunk. Instantly they all took alarm.The Tin Owl shrieked: "Hoot -- hoot!" and flew straightup to the branch of a tall tree, although he couldscarcely see where he was going. The Canary swiftlydarted to a place beside the Owl, and the Green Monkeysprang up, caught a limb, and soon scrambled to a highperch of safety.

The Jaguar crouched low and with hungry eyes regardedthe little Brown Bear, which slowly got upon its feetand asked reproachfully:

"For goodness' sake, Beast, what were you trying todo?"

"Trying to get my breakfast," answered the Jaguarwith a snarl, "and I believe I've succeeded. You oughtto make a delicious meal -- unless you happen to be oldand tough."

"I'm worse than that, considered as a breakfast,"said the Bear, "for I'm only a skin stuffed with straw,and therefore not fit to eat."

"Indeed!" cried the Jaguar, in a disappointed voice;"then you must be a magic Bear, or enchanted, and Imust seek my breakfast from among your companions."

With this he raised his lean head to look up at theTin Owl and the Canary and the Monkey, and he lashedhis tail upon the ground and growled as fiercely as anyjaguar could.

"My friends are enchanted, also," said the littleBrown Bear.

"All of them?" asked the Jaguar.

"Yes. The Owl is tin, so you couldn't possibly eathim. The Canary is a fairy -- Polychrome, the Daughterof the Rainbow -- and you never could catch her becauseshe can easily fly out of your reach."

"There still remains the Green Monkey," remarked theJaguar hungrily. "He is neither made of tin nor stuffedwith straw, nor can he fly. I'm pretty good at climbingtrees, myself, so I think I'll capture the Monkey andeat him for my breakfast."

Woot the Monkey, hearing this speech from his perchon the tree, became much frightened, for he knew thenature of jaguars and realized they could climb treesand leap from limb to limb with the agility of cats. Sohe at once began to scamper through the forest as fastas he could go, catching at a branch with his longmonkey arms and swinging his green body through spaceto grasp another branch in a neighboring tree, and soon, while the Jaguar followed him from below, his eyesfixed steadfastly on his prey. But presently Woot gothis feet tangled in the Lace Apron, which he was stillwearing, and that tripped him in his flight and madehim fall to the ground, where the Jaguar placed onehuge paw upon him and said grimly:I've got you, now!"The fact that the Apron had tripped him made Wootremember its magic powers, and in his terror he criedout: "Open!" without stopping to consider how thiscommand might save him. But, at the word, the earthopened at the exact spot where he lay under theJaguar's paw, and his body sank downward, the earthclosing over it again. The last thing Woot the Monkeysaw, as he glanced upward, was the Jaguar peering intothe hole in astonishment.

"He's gone!" cried the beast, with a long-drawn sighof disappointment; "he's gone, and now I shall have nobreakfast."

The clatter of the Tin Owl's wings sounded above him,and the little Brown Bear came trotting up and asked:

"Where is the monkey? Have you eaten him so quickly?"

"No, indeed," answered the Jaguar. "He disappearedinto the earth before I could take one bite of him!"

And now the Canary perched upon a stump, a little wayfrom the forest beast, and said:

"I am glad our friend has escaped you; but, as it isnatural for a hungry beast to wish his breakfast, Iwill try to give you one."

"Thank you," replied the Jaguar. "You're rather smallfor a full meal, but it's kind of you to sacrificeyourself to my appetite."

"Oh, I don't intend to be eaten, I assure you," saidthe Canary, "but as I am a fairy I know something ofmagic, and though I am now transformed into a bird'sshape, I am sure I can conjure up a breakfast that willsatisfy you."

"If you can work magic, why don't you break theenchantment you are under and return to your properform?" inquired the beast doubtingly.

"I haven't the power to do that," answered theCanary, "for Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess who transformedme, used a peculiar form of yookoohoo magic that isunknown to me. However, she could not deprive me of myown fairy knowledge, so I will try to get you abreakfast."

"Do you think a magic breakfast would taste good, orrelieve the pangs of hunger I now suffer?" asked theJaguar.

"I am sure it would. What would you like to eat?"

"Give me a couple of fat rabbits," said the beast.

"Rabbits! No, indeed. I'd not allow you to eat thedear little things," declared Polychrome the Canary.

"Well, three or four squirrels, then," pleaded theJaguar.

"Do you think me so cruel?" demanded the Canary,indignantly. "The squirrels are my especial friends."

"How about a plump owl?" asked the beast. "Not a tinone, you know, but a real meat owl."

"Neither beast nor bird shall you have," saidPolychrome in a positive voice.

"Give me a fish, then; there's a river a little wayoff," proposed the Jaguar.

"No living thing shall be sacrificed to feed you,"returned the Canary.

"Then what in the world do you expect me toeat?" said the Jaguar in a scornful tone.

"How would mush-and-milk do?" asked theCanary.

The Jaguar snarled in derision and lashed his tailagainst the ground angrily

"Give him some scrambled eggs on toast, Poly,"suggested the Bear Scarecrow. "He ought to like that."

"I will," responded the Canary, and fluttering herwings she made a flight of three circles around thestump. Then she flew up to a tree and the Bear and theOwl and the Jaguar saw that upon the stump had appeareda great green leaf upon which was a large portion ofscrambled eggs on toast, smoking hot.

"There!" said the Bear; "eat your breakfast, friendJaguar, and be content."

The Jaguar crept closer to the stump and sniffed thefragrance of the scrambled eggs. They smelled so goodthat he tasted them, and they tasted so good that heate the strange meal in a hurry, proving he had beenreally hungry.

"I prefer rabbits," he muttered, licking his chops,"but I must admit the magic breakfast has filled mystomach full, and brought me comfort. So I'm muchobliged for the kindness, little Fairy, and I'll nowleave you in peace."

Saying this, he plunged into the thick underbrush andsoon disappeared, although they could hear his greatbody crashing through the bushes until he was fardistant.

"That was a good way to get rid of the savage beast,Poly," said the Tin Woodman to the Canary; "but I'msurprised that you didn't give our friend Woot a magicbreakfast, when you knew he was hungry."

"The reason for that," answered Polychrome, "wasthat my mind was so intent on other things that I quiteforgot my power to produce food by magic. But where isthe monkey boy?"

"Gone!" said the Scarecrow Bear, solemnly. "The earthhas swallowed him up."