In her magnificent palace in the Emerald City, thebeautiful girl Ruler of all the wonderful Land of Ozsat in her dainty boudoir with her friend PrincessDorothy beside her. Ozma was studying a roll ofmanuscript which she had taken from the Royal Library,while Dorothy worked at her embroidery and at timesstooped to pat a shaggy little black dog that lay ather feet. The little dog's name was Toto, and he wasDorothy's faithful companion.

To judge Ozma of Oz by the standards of our world,you would think her very young -- perhaps fourteen orfifteen years of age -- yet for years she had ruled theLand of Oz and had never seemed a bit older. Dorothyappeared much younger than Ozma. She had been a littlegirl when first she came to the Land of Oz, and she wasa little girl still, and would never seem to be a dayolder while she lived in this wonderful fairyland.

Oz was not always a fairyland, I am told. Once it wasmuch like other lands, except it was shut in by adreadful desert of sandy wastes that lay all around it,thus preventing its people from all contact with therest of the world. Seeing this isolation, the fairyband of Queen Lurline, passing over Oz while on ajourney, enchanted the country and so made it aFairyland. And Queen Lurline left one of her fairies torule this enchanted Land of Oz, and then passed on andforgot all about it.

From that moment no one in Oz ever died. Those whowere old remained old; those who were young and strongdid not change as years passed them by; the childrenremained children always, and played and romped totheir hearts' content, while all the babies lived intheir cradles and were tenderly cared for and nevergrew up. So people in Oz stopped counting how old theywere in years, for years made no difference in theirappearance and could not alter their station. They didnot get sick, so there were no doctors among them.Accidents might happen to some, on rare occasions, itis true, and while no one could die naturally, as otherpeople do, it was possible that one might be totallydestroyed. Such incidents, however, were very unusual,and so seldom was there anything to worry over that theOz people were as happy and contented as can be.

Another strange thing about this fairy Land of Oz wasthat whoever managed to enter it from the outside worldcame under the magic spell of the place and did notchange in appearance as long as they lived there. SoDorothy, who now lived with Ozma, seemed just the samesweet little girl she had been when first she came tothis delightful fairyland.

Perhaps all parts of Oz might not be called trulydelightful, but it was surely delightful in theneighborhood of the Emerald City, where Ozma reigned.Her loving influence was felt for many miles around,but there were places in the mountains of the GillikinCountry, and the forests of the Quadling Country, andperhaps in far-away parts of the Munchkin and WinkieCountries, where the inhabitants were somewhat rude anduncivilized and had not yet come under the spell ofOzma's wise and kindly rule. Also, when Oz first becamea fairyland, it harbored several witches and magiciansand sorcerers and necromancers, who were scattered invarious parts, but most of these had been deprived oftheir magic powers, and Ozma had issued a royal edictforbidding anyone in her dominions to work magic exceptGlinda the Good and the Wizard of Oz. Ozma herself,being a real fairy, knew a lot of magic, but she onlyused it to benefit her subjects.

This little explanation will help you to understandbetter the story you are reaching, but most of it isalready known to those who are familiar with the Ozpeople whose adventures they have followed in other Ozbooks.

Ozma and Dorothy were fast friends and were muchtogether. Everyone in Oz loved Dorothy almost as wellas they did their lovely Ruler, for the little Kansasgirl's good fortune had not spoiled her or rendered herat all vain. She was just the same brave and true andadventurous child as before she lived in a royal palaceand became the chum of the fairy Ozma.

In the room in which the two sat -- which was one ofOzma's private suite of apartments -- hung the famousMagic Picture. This was the source of constant interestto little Dorothy. One had but to stand before it andwish to see what any person was doing, and at once ascene would flash upon the magic canvas which showedexactly where that person was, and like our own movingpictures would reproduce the actions of that person aslong as you cared to watch them. So today, when Dorothytired of her embroidery, she drew the curtains frombefore the Magic Picture and wished to see what herfriend Button Bright was doing. Button Bright, she saw,was playing ball with Ojo, the Munchkin boy, so Dorothynext wished to see what her Aunt Em was doing. Thepicture showed Aunt Em quietly engaged in darning socksfor Uncle Henry, so Dorothy wished to see what her oldfriend the Tin Woodman was doing.

The Tin Woodman was then just leaving his tin castlein the company of the Scarecrow and Woot the Wanderer.Dorothy had never seen this boy before, so she wonderedwho he was. Also she was curious to know where thethree were going, for she noticed Woot's knapsack andguessed they had started on a long journey. She askedOzma about it, but Ozma did not know

That afternoon Dorothy again saw the travelers in theMagic Picture, but they were merely tramping throughthe country and Dorothy was not much interested inthem. A couple of days later, however, the girl, beingagain with Ozma, wished to see her friends, theScarecrow and the Tin Woodman in the Magic Picture, andon this occasion found them in the great castle of Mrs.Yoop, the Giantess, who was at the time about totransform them. Both Dorothy and Ozma now becamegreatly interested and watched the transformations withindignation and horror.

"What a wicked Giantess!" exclaimed Dorothy.

"Yes," answered Ozma, "she must be punished for thiscruelty to our friends, and to the poor boy who is withthem."

After this they followed the adventure of the littleBrown Bear and the Tin Owl and the Green Monkey withbreathless interest, and were delighted when theyescaped from Mrs. Yoop. They did not know, then, whothe Canary was, but realized it must be thetransformation of some person of consequence, whom theGiantess had also enchanted.

When, finally, the day came when the adventurersheaded south into the Munchkin Country, Dorothy askedanxiously:

"Can't something be done for them, Ozma? Can't youchange 'em back into their own shapes? They've sufferedenough from these dreadful transformations, seems tome."

"I've been studying ways to help them, ever sincethey were transformed," replied Ozma. "Mrs. Yoop is nowthe only yookoohoo in my dominions, and the yookoohoomagic is very peculiar and hard for others tounderstand, yet I am resolved to make the attempt tobreak these enchantments. I may not succeed, but Ishall do the best I can. From the directions ourfriends are taking, I believe they are going to pass byJinjur's Ranch, so if we start now we may meet themthere. Would you like to go with me, Dorothy?"

"Of course," answered the little girl; "I wouldn'tmiss it for anything."

"Then order the Red Wagon," said Ozma of Oz, "and wewill start at once."

Dorothy ran to do as she was bid, while Ozma went toher Magic Room to make ready the things she believedshe would need. In half an hour the Red Wagon stoodbefore the grand entrance of the palace, and before itwas hitched the Wooden Sawhorse, which was Ozma'sfavorite steed.

This Sawhorse, while made of wood, was very muchalive and could travel swiftly and without tiring. Tokeep the ends of his wooden legs from wearing downshort, Ozma had shod the Sawhorse with plates of puregold. His harness was studded with brilliant emeraldsand other jewels and so, while he himself was not atall handsome, his outfit made a splendid appearance.

Since the Sawhorse could understand her spoken words,Ozma used no reins to guide him. She merely told himwhere to go. When she came from the palace withDorothy, they both climbed into the Red Wagon and thenthe little dog, Toto, ran up and asked:

"Are you going to leave me behind, Dorothy?" Dorothylooked at Ozma, who smiled in return and said:

"Toto may go with us, if you wish him to."

So Dorothy lifted the little dog into the wagon, for,while he could run fast, he could not keep up with thespeed of the wonderful Sawhorse.

Away they went, over hills and through meadows,covering the ground with astonishing speed. It is notsurprising, therefore, that the Red Wagon arrivedbefore Jinjur's house just as that energetic young ladyhad finished scrubbing the Green Monkey and was aboutto lead him to the caramel patch.