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"Go to the strangers who are within my land and destroy them

all except the Lion," said the Wicked Witch. "Bring that beast to

me, for I have a mind to harness him like a horse, and make him work."

"Your commands shall be obeyed," said the leader. Then, with

a great deal of chattering and noise, the Winged Monkeys flew away

to the place where Dorothy and her friends were walking.

Some of the Monkeys seized the Tin Woodman and carried him

through the air until they were over a country thickly covered

with sharp rocks. Here they dropped the poor Woodman, who fell a

great distance to the rocks, where he lay so battered and dented

that he could neither move nor groan.

Others of the Monkeys caught the Scarecrow, and with their

long fingers pulled all of the straw out of his clothes and head.

They made his hat and boots and clothes into a small bundle and

threw it into the top branches of a tall tree.

The remaining Monkeys threw pieces of stout rope around

the Lion and wound many coils about his body and head and legs,

until he was unable to bite or scratch or struggle in any way.

Then they lifted him up and flew away with him to the Witch's castle,

where he was placed in a small yard with a high iron fence around it,

so that he could not escape.

But Dorothy they did not harm at all. She stood, with Toto in

her arms, watching the sad fate of her comrades and thinking it

would soon be her turn. The leader of the Winged Monkeys flew up

to her, his long, hairy arms stretched out and his ugly face

grinning terribly; but he saw the mark of the Good Witch's kiss

upon her forehead and stopped short, motioning the others not to

touch her.

"We dare not harm this little girl," he said to them, "for she

is protected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the

Power of Evil. All we can do is to carry her to the castle of the

Wicked Witch and leave her there."

So, carefully and gently, they lifted Dorothy in their

arms and carried her swiftly through the air until they came

to the castle, where they set her down upon the front doorstep.

Then the leader said to the Witch:

"We have obeyed you as far as we were able. The Tin Woodman and

the Scarecrow are destroyed, and the Lion is tied up in your yard.

The little girl we dare not harm, nor the dog she carries in her arms.

Your power over our band is now ended, and you will never see us again."

Then all the Winged Monkeys, with much laughing and chattering

and noise, flew into the air and were soon out of sight.

The Wicked Witch was both surprised and worried when she saw

the mark on Dorothy's forehead, for she knew well that neither the

Winged Monkeys nor she, herself, dare hurt the girl in any way.

She looked down at Dorothy's feet, and seeing the Silver Shoes,

began to tremble with fear, for she knew what a powerful charm

belonged to them. At first the Witch was tempted to run away from

Dorothy; but she happened to look into the child's eyes and saw

how simple the soul behind them was, and that the little girl did

not know of the wonderful power the Silver Shoes gave her. So the

Wicked Witch laughed to herself, and thought, "I can still make

her my slave, for she does not know how to use her power."

Then she said to Dorothy, harshly and severely:

"Come with me; and see that you mind everything I tell you,

for if you do not I will make an end of you, as I did of the Tin

Woodman and the Scarecrow."

Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in

her castle until they came to the kitchen, where the Witch bade

her clean the pots and kettles and sweep the floor and keep the

fire fed with wood.

Dorothy went to work meekly, with her mind made up to work as

hard as she could; for she was glad the Wicked Witch had decided

not to kill her.

With Dorothy hard at work, the Witch thought she would go into

the courtyard and harness the Cowardly Lion like a horse; it would

amuse her, she was sure, to make him draw her chariot whenever she

wished to go to drive. But as she opened the gate the Lion gave a

loud roar and bounded at her so fiercely that the Witch was afraid,

and ran out and shut the gate again.

"If I cannot harness you," said the Witch to the Lion,

speaking through the bars of the gate, "I can starve you.

You shall have nothing to eat until you do as I wish."

So after that she took no food to the imprisoned Lion;

but every day she came to the gate at noon and asked, "Are you

ready to be harnessed like a horse?"