第9章（1 / 1）

"We are on our way to the Emerald City to see the Great Oz,"

she answered, "and we stopped at your cottage to pass the night."

"Why do you wish to see Oz?" he asked.

"I want him to send me back to Kansas, and the Scarecrow wants

him to put a few brains into his head," she replied.

The Tin Woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment. Then he said:

"Do you suppose Oz could give me a heart?"

"Why, I guess so," Dorothy answered. "It would be as easy as

to give the Scarecrow brains."

"True," the Tin Woodman returned. "So, if you will allow me

to join your party, I will also go to the Emerald City and ask Oz

to help me."

"Come along," said the Scarecrow heartily, and Dorothy added

that she would be pleased to have his company. So the Tin Woodman

shouldered his axe and they all passed through the forest until

they came to the road that was paved with yellow brick.

The Tin Woodman had asked Dorothy to put the oil-can in her basket.

"For," he said, "if I should get caught in the rain, and rust again,

I would need the oil-can badly."

It was a bit of good luck to have their new comrade join the

party, for soon after they had begun their journey again they came

to a place where the trees and branches grew so thick over the

road that the travelers could not pass. But the Tin Woodman set

to work with his axe and chopped so well that soon he cleared a

passage for the entire party.

Dorothy was thinking so earnestly as they walked along that

she did not notice when the Scarecrow stumbled into a hole and

rolled over to the side of the road. Indeed he was obliged to

call to her to help him up again.

"Why didn't you walk around the hole?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"I don't know enough," replied the Scarecrow cheerfully.

"My head is stuffed with straw, you know, and that is why I am

going to Oz to ask him for some brains."

"Oh, I see," said the Tin Woodman. "But, after all, brains

are not the best things in the world."

"Have you any?" inquired the Scarecrow.

"No, my head is quite empty," answered the Woodman.

"But once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried

them both, I should much rather have a heart."

"And why is that?" asked the Scarecrow.

"I will tell you my story, and then you will know."

So, while they were walking through the forest, the Tin Woodman

told the following story:

"I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in the

forest and sold the wood for a living. When I grew up, I too became

a woodchopper, and after my father died I took care of my old mother

as long as she lived. Then I made up my mind that instead of living

alone I would marry, so that I might not become lonely.

"There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautiful

that I soon grew to love her with all my heart. She, on her part,

promised to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money to

build a better house for her; so I set to work harder than ever.

But the girl lived with an old woman who did not want her to marry

anyone, for she was so lazy she wished the girl to remain with her

and do the cooking and the housework. So the old woman went to

the Wicked Witch of the East, and promised her two sheep and a cow

if she would prevent the marriage. Thereupon the Wicked Witch

enchanted my axe, and when I was chopping away at my best one day,

for I was anxious to get the new house and my wife as soon as

possible, the axe slipped all at once and cut off my left leg.

"This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a

one-legged man could not do very well as a wood-chopper. So I

went to a tinsmith and had him make me a new leg out of tin. The

leg worked very well, once I was used to it. But my action

angered the Wicked Witch of the East, for she had promised the old

woman I should not marry the pretty Munchkin girl. When I began

chopping again, my axe slipped and cut off my right leg. Again I

went to the tinsmith, and again he made me a leg out of tin.

After this the enchanted axe cut off my arms, one after the

other; but, nothing daunted, I had them replaced with tin ones.

The Wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my head, and

at first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinsmith

happened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.

"I thought I had beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I worked

harder than ever; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be.

She thought of a new way to kill my love for the beautiful

Munchkin maiden, and made my axe slip again, so that it cut right

through my body, splitting me into two halves. Once more the

tinsmith came to my help and made me a body of tin, fastening my

tin arms and legs and head to it, by means of joints, so that I

could move around as well as ever. But, alas!