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commanded

the Witch, and the bees turned and flew rapidly until they came

to where Dorothy and her friends were walking. But the Woodman

had seen them coming, and the Scarecrow had decided what to do.

"Take out my straw and scatter it over the little girl and the

dog and the Lion," he said to the Woodman, "and the bees cannot

sting them." This the Woodman did, and as Dorothy lay close beside

the Lion and held Toto in her arms, the straw covered them entirely.

The bees came and found no one but the Woodman to sting, so

they flew at him and broke off all their stings against the tin,

without hurting the Woodman at all. And as bees cannot live when

their stings are broken that was the end of the black bees, and

they lay scattered thick about the Woodman, like little heaps of

fine coal.

Then Dorothy and the Lion got up, and the girl helped the Tin

Woodman put the straw back into the Scarecrow again, until he was

as good as ever. So they started upon their journey once more.

The Wicked Witch was so angry when she saw her black bees in

little heaps like fine coal that she stamped her foot and tore her

hair and gnashed her teeth. And then she called a dozen of her

slaves, who were the Winkies, and gave them sharp spears, telling

them to go to the strangers and destroy them.

The Winkies were not a brave people, but they had to do as

they were told. So they marched away until they came near to

Dorothy. Then the Lion gave a great roar and sprang towards them,

and the poor Winkies were so frightened that they ran back as fast

as they could.

When they returned to the castle the Wicked Witch beat them

well with a strap, and sent them back to their work, after which

she sat down to think what she should do next. She could not

understand how all her plans to destroy these strangers had failed;

but she was a powerful Witch, as well as a wicked one, and she soon

made up her mind how to act.

There was, in her cupboard, a Golden Cap, with a circle of

diamonds and rubies running round it. This Golden Cap had a charm.

Whoever owned it could call three times upon the Winged Monkeys,

who would obey any order they were given. But no person

could command these strange creatures more than three times.

Twice already the Wicked Witch had used the charm of the Cap.

Once was when she had made the Winkies her slaves, and set herself

to rule over their country. The Winged Monkeys had helped her

do this. The second time was when she had fought against the

Great Oz himself, and driven him out of the land of the West.

The Winged Monkeys had also helped her in doing this. Only once

more could she use this Golden Cap, for which reason she did not

like to do so until all her other powers were exhausted. But now

that her fierce wolves and her wild crows and her stinging bees were

gone, and her slaves had been scared away by the Cowardly Lion,

she saw there was only one way left to destroy Dorothy and her friends.

So the Wicked Witch took the Golden Cap from her cupboard and

placed it upon her head. Then she stood upon her left foot and

said slowly:

"Ep-pe, pep-pe, kak-ke!"

Next she stood upon her right foot and said:

"Hil-lo, hol-lo, hel-lo!"

After this she stood upon both feet and cried in a loud voice:

"Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!"

Now the charm began to work. The sky was darkened, and a low

rumbling sound was heard in the air. There was a rushing of many

wings, a great chattering and laughing, and the sun came out of the

dark sky to show the Wicked Witch surrounded by a crowd of monkeys,

each with a pair of immense and powerful wings on his shoulders.

One, much bigger than the others, seemed to be their leader.

He flew close to the Witch and said, "You have called us for the

third and last time. What do you command?"