As they followed a path down the blue-grass hillside,the first house that met the view of the travelers wasjoyously recognized by the Scarecrow Bear as the oneinhabited by his friend Jinjur, so they increased theirspeed and hurried toward it.

On reaching the place, how ever, they found the housedeserted. The front door stood open, but no one wasinside. In the garden surrounding the house were neatrows of bushes bearing cream-puffs and macaroons, someof which were still green, but others ripe and ready toeat. Farther back were fields of caramels, and all theland seemed well cultivated and carefully tended. Theylooked through the fields for the girl farmer, but shewas nowhere to be seen.

"Well," finally remarked the little Brown Bear, "letus go into the house and make ourselves at home. Thatwill be sure to please my friend Jinjur, who happens tobe away from home just now. When she returns, she willbe greatly surprised."

"Would she care if I ate some of those ripe cream-puffs?" asked the Green Monkey.

"No, indeed; Jinjur is very generous. Help yourselfto all you want," said the Scarecrow Bear.

So Woot gathered a lot of the cream-puffs that weregolden yellow and filled with a sweet, creamysubstance, and ate until his hunger was satisfied. Thenhe entered the house with his friends and sat in arocking-chair -- just as he was accustomed to do when aboy. The Canary perched herself upon the mantel anddaintily plumed her feathers; the Tin Owl sat on theback of another chair; the Scarecrow squatted on hishairy haunches in the middle of the room.

"I believe I remember the girl Jinjur," remarked theCanary, in her sweet voice. "She cannot help us verymuch, except to direct us on our way to Glinda'scastle, for she does not understand magic. But she's agood girl, honest and sensible, and I'll be glad to seeher."

"All our troubles," said the Owl with a deep sigh,"arose from my foolish resolve to seek Nimmie Amee andmake her Empress of the Winkies, and while I wish toreproach no one, I must say that it was Woot theWanderer who put the notion into my head."

"Well, for my part, I am glad he did," responded theCanary. "Your journey resulted in saving me from theGiantess, and had you not traveled to the Yoop Valley,I would still be Mrs. Yoop's prisoner. It is much nicerto be free, even though I still bear the enchanted formof a Canary-Bird."

"Do you think we shall ever be able to get our properforms back again?" asked the Green Monkey earnestly.

Polychrome did not make reply at once to thisimportant question, but after a period ofthoughtfulness she said:

"I have been taught to believe that there is anantidote for every magic charm, yet Mrs. Yoop insiststhat no power can alter her transformations. I realizethat my own fairy magic cannot do it, although I havethought that we Sky Fairies have more power than isaccorded to Earth Fairies. The yookoohoo magic isadmitted to be very strange in its workings anddifferent from the magic usually practiced, but perhapsGlinda or Ozma may understand it better than I. In themlies our only hope. Unless they can help us, we mustremain forever as we are."

"A Canary-Bird on a Rainbow wouldn't be so bad,"asserted the Tin Owl, winking and blinking with hisround tin eyes, "so if you can manage to find yourRainbow again you need have little to worry about."

"That's nonsense, Friend Chopper," exclaimed Woot. "Iknow just how Polychrome feels. A beautiful girl ismuch superior to a little yellow bird, and a boy --such as I was -- far better than a Green Monkey.Neither of us can be happy again unless we recover ourrightful forms."

"I feel the same way," announced the stuffed Bear."What do you suppose my friend the Patchwork Girl wouldthink of me, if she saw me wearing this beastly shape?"

"She'd laugh till she cried," admitted the Tin Owl."For my part, I'll have to give up the notion ofmarrying Nimmie Amee, but I'll try not to let that makeme unhappy. If it's my duty, I'd like to do my duty,but if magic prevents my getting married I'll flutteralong all by myself and be just as contented."

Their serious misfortunes made them all silent for atime, and as their thoughts were busy in dwelling uponthe evils with which fate had burdened them, nonenoticed that Jinjur had suddenly appeared in thedoorway and was looking at them in astonishment. Thenext moment her astonishment changed to anger, forthere, in her best rocking-chair, sat a Green Monkey. Agreat shiny Owl perched upon another chair and a BrownBear squatted upon her parlor rug. Jinjur did notnotice the Canary, but she caught up a broomstick anddashed into the room, shouting as she came:

"Get out of here, you wild creatures! How dare youenter my house?"

With a blow of her broom she knocked the Brown Bearover, and the Tin Owl tried to fly out of her reach andmade a great clatter with his tin wings. The GreenMonkey was so startled by the sudden attack that hesprang into the fireplace -- where there wasfortunately no fire -- and tried to escape by climbingup the chimney. But he found the opening too small, andso was forced to drop down again. Then he crouchedtrembling in the fireplace, his pretty green hair allblackened with soot and covered with ashes. From thisposition Woot watched to see what would happen next.

"Stop, Jinjur -- stop!" cried the Brown Bear, whenthe broom again threatened him. "Don't you know me? I'myour old friend the Scarecrow?"

"You're trying to deceive me, you naughty beast! Ican see plainly that you are a bear, and a mighty poorspecimen of a bear, too," retorted the girl.

"That's because I'm not properly stuffed," he assuredher. "When Mrs. Yoop transformed me, she didn't realizeI should have more stuffing."

"Who is Mrs. Yoop?" inquired Jinjur, pausing with thebroom still upraised.

"A Giantess in the Gillikin Country."

"Oh; I begin to understand. And Mrs. Yoop transformedyou? You are really the famous Scarecrow of Oz."

"I was, Jinjur. Just now I'm as you see me -- amiserable little Brown Bear with a poor quality ofstuffing. That Tin Owl is none other than our dear TinWoodman -- Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies --while this Green Monkey is a nice little boy werecently became acquainted with, Woot the Wanderer."

"And I," said the Canary, flying close to Jinjur, "amPolychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow, in the form ofa bird."

"Goodness me!" cried Jinjur, amazed; "that Giantessmust be a powerful Sorceress, and as wicked as she ispowerful."

"She's a yookoohoo," said Polychrome. "Fortunately,we managed to escape from her castle, and we are now onour way to Glinda the Good to see if she possesses thepower to restore us to our former shapes."

"Then I must beg your pardons; all of you mustforgive me," said Jinjur, putting away the broom. "Itook you to be a lot of wild, unmannerly animals, aswas quite natural. You are very welcome to my home andI'm sorry I haven't the power to help you out of yourtroubles. Please use my house and all that I have, asif it were your own."

At this declaration of peace, the Bear got upon hisfeet and the Owl resumed his perch upon the chair andthe Monkey crept out of the fireplace. Jinjur looked atWoot critically, and scowled.

"For a Green Monkey," said she, "you're the blackestcreature I ever saw. And you'll get my nice clean roomall dirty with soot and ashes. Whatever possessed youto jump up the chimney?"

"I -- I was scared," explained Woot, somewhatashamed.

"Well, you need renovating, and that's what willhappen to you, right away. Come with me!" shecommanded.

"What are you going to do?" asked Woot.

"Give you a good scrubbing," said Jinjur.

Now, neither boys nor monkeys relish being scrubbed,so Woot shrank away from the energetic girl, tremblingfearfully. But Jinjur grabbed him by his paw anddragged him out to the back yard, where, in spite ofhis whines and struggles, she plunged him into a tub ofcold water and began to scrub him with a stiff brushand a cake of yellow soap.

This was the hardest trial that Woot had enduredsince he became a monkey, but no protest had anyinfluence with Jinjur, who lathered and scrubbed him ina business-like manner and afterward dried him with acoarse towel.

The Bear and the Owl gravely watched this operationand nodded approval when Woot's silky green fur shoneclear and bright in the afternoon sun. The Canaryseemed much amused and laughed a silvery ripple oflaughter as she said:

"Very well done, my good Jinjur; I admire your energyand judgment. But I had no idea a monkey could look socomical as this monkey did while he was being bathed."

"I'm not a monkey!" declared Woot, resentfully; "I'mjust a boy in a monkey's shape, that's all."

"If you can explain to me the difference," saidJinjur, "I'll agree not to wash you again -- that is,unless you foolishly get into the fireplace. Allpersons are usually judged by the shapes in which theyappear to the eyes of others. Look at me, Woot; what amI?"

Woot looked at her.

"You're as pretty a girl as I've ever seen," hereplied.

Jinjur frowned. That is, she tried hard to frown.

"Come out into the garden with me," she said, "andI'll give you some of the most delicious caramels youever ate. They're a new variety, that no one can growbut me, and they have a heliotrope flavor."