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the girl asked, as she breathed in

the spicy scent of the bright flowers.

"I suppose so," answered the Scarecrow. "When I have brains,

I shall probably like them better."

"If I only had a heart, I should love them," added the Tin Woodman.

"I always did like flowers," said the Lion. "They of seem so

helpless and frail. But there are none in the forest so bright as these."

They now came upon more and more of the big scarlet poppies,

and fewer and fewer of the other flowers; and soon they found

themselves in the midst of a great meadow of poppies. Now it is

well known that when there are many of these flowers together

their odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it falls

asleep, and if the sleeper is not carried away from the scent of

the flowers, he sleeps on and on forever. But Dorothy did not

know this, nor could she get away from the bright red flowers that

were everywhere about; so presently her eyes grew heavy and she

felt she must sit down to rest and to sleep.

But the Tin Woodman would not let her do this.

"We must hurry and get back to the road of yellow brick before dark,"

he said; and the Scarecrow agreed with him. So they kept walking until

Dorothy could stand no longer. Her eyes closed in spite of herself and

she forgot where she was and fell among the poppies, fast asleep.

"What shall we do?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"If we leave her here she will die," said the Lion. "The smell of

the flowers is killing us all. I myself can scarcely keep my eyes open,

and the dog is asleep already."

It was true; Toto had fallen down beside his little mistress.

But the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, not being made of flesh,

were not troubled by the scent of the flowers.

"Run fast," said the Scarecrow to the Lion, "and get out of

this deadly flower bed as soon as you can. We will bring the

little girl with us, but if you should fall asleep you are too big

to be carried."

So the Lion aroused himself and bounded forward as fast as he

could go. In a moment he was out of sight.

"Let us make a chair with our hands and carry her," said the

Scarecrow. So they picked up Toto and put the dog in Dorothy's

lap, and then they made a chair with their hands for the seat and

their arms for the arms and carried the sleeping girl between them

through the flowers.

On and on they walked, and it seemed that the great carpet of

deadly flowers that surrounded them would never end. They followed

the bend of the river, and at last came upon their friend the Lion,

lying fast asleep among the poppies. The flowers had been too strong

for the huge beast and he had given up at last, and fallen only a short

distance from the end of the poppy bed, where the sweet grass spread in

beautiful green fields before them.

"We can do nothing for him," said the Tin Woodman, sadly; "for

he is much too heavy to lift. We must leave him here to sleep on

forever, and perhaps he will dream that he has found courage at last."

"I'm sorry," said the Scarecrow. "The Lion was a very good

comrade for one so cowardly. But let us go on."

They carried the sleeping girl to a pretty spot beside the river,

far enough from the poppy field to prevent her breathing any more of

the poison of the flowers, and here they laid her gently on the soft

grass and waited for the fresh breeze to waken her.

9. The Queen of the Field Mice

"We cannot be far from the road of yellow brick, now," remarked

the Scarecrow, as he stood beside the girl, "for we have come

nearly as far as the river carried us away."

The Tin Woodman was about to reply when he heard a low growl,

and turning his head (which worked beautifully on hinges) he saw a

strange beast come bounding over the grass toward them. It was,

indeed, a great yellow Wildcat, and the Woodman thought it must

be chasing something, for its ears were lying close to its head

and its mouth was wide open, showing two rows of ugly teeth, while

its red eyes glowed like balls of fire. As it came nearer the Tin

Woodman saw that running before the beast was a little gray field

mouse, and although he had no heart he knew it was wrong for the

Wildcat to try to kill such a pretty, harmless creature.

So the Woodman raised his axe, and as the Wildcat ran by he gave

it a quick blow that cut the beast's head clean off from its body,

and it rolled over at his feet in two pieces.

The field mouse, now that it was freed from its enemy, stopped short;

and coming slowly up to the Woodman it said, in a squeaky little voice:

"Oh, thank you!