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You have come in good time to

fight our enemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forest

once more."

"What is your trouble?" asked the Lion quietly.

"We are all threatened," answered the tiger, "by a fierce

enemy which has lately come into this forest. It is a most

tremendous monster, like a great spider, with a body as big as an

elephant and legs as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of these

long legs, and as the monster crawls through the forest he seizes

an animal with a leg and drags it to his mouth, where he eats it

as a spider does a fly. Not one of us is safe while this fierce

creature is alive, and we had called a meeting to decide how to

take care of ourselves when you came among us."

The Lion thought for a moment.

"Are there any other lions in this forest?" he asked.

"No; there were some, but the monster has eaten them all. And,

besides, they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you."

"If I put an end to your enemy, will you bow down to me and

obey me as King of the Forest?" inquired the Lion.

"We will do that gladly," returned the tiger; and all the

other beasts roared with a mighty roar: "We will!"

"Where is this great spider of yours now?" asked the Lion.

"Yonder, among the oak trees," said the tiger, pointing with

his forefoot.

"Take good care of these friends of mine," said the Lion, "and

I will go at once to fight the monster."

He bade his comrades good-bye and marched proudly away to do

battle with the enemy.

The great spider was lying asleep when the Lion found him,

and it looked so ugly that its foe turned up his nose in disgust.

Its legs were quite as long as the tiger had said, and its body

covered with coarse black hair. It had a great mouth, with a row

of sharp teeth a foot long; but its head was joined to the pudgy

body by a neck as slender as a wasp's waist. This gave the Lion a

hint of the best way to attack the creature, and as he knew it was

easier to fight it asleep than awake, he gave a great spring and

landed directly upon the monster's back. Then, with one blow of

his heavy paw, all armed with sharp claws, he knocked the spider's

head from its body. Jumping down, he watched it until the long

legs stopped wiggling, when he knew it was quite dead.

The Lion went back to the opening where the beasts of the

forest were waiting for him and said proudly:

"You need fear your enemy no longer."

Then the beasts bowed down to the Lion as their King, and he

promised to come back and rule over them as soon as Dorothy was

safely on her way to Kansas.

22. The Country of the Quadlings

The four travelers passed through the rest of the forest in

safety, and when they came out from its gloom saw before them a

steep hill, covered from top to bottom with great pieces of rock.

"That will be a hard climb," said the Scarecrow, "but we must

get over the hill, nevertheless."

So he led the way and the others followed. They had nearly

reached the first rock when they heard a rough voice cry out,

"Keep back!"

"Who are you?" asked the Scarecrow.

Then a head showed itself over the rock and the same voice said,

"This hill belongs to us, and we don't allow anyone to cross it."

"But we must cross it," said the Scarecrow. "We're going to

the country of the Quadlings."

"But you shall not!" replied the voice, and there stepped from

behind the rock the strangest man the travelers had ever seen.

He was quite short and stout and had a big head, which was

flat at the top and supported by a thick neck full of wrinkles.

But he had no arms at all, and, seeing this, the Scarecrow did not

fear that so helpless a creature could prevent them from climbing

the hill. So he said, "I'm sorry not to do as you wish, but we

must pass over your hill whether you like it or not," and he

walked boldly forward.

As quick as lightning the man's head shot forward and his neck

stretched out until the top of the head, where it was flat, struck

the Scarecrow in the middle and sent him tumbling, over and over,

down the hill. Almost as quickly as it came the head went back to

the body, and the man laughed harshly as he said, "It isn't as

easy as you think!"