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"
Oh, suppose I had pricked my foot!" she wailed. "Then the doctors
would have cut my foot off, and I'd be lamed for life!"
"
Surely, ma'am," replied the Wizard, "and if you'd pricked your nose they
might cut your head off. But you see you didn't."
"
But I might have!" she exclaimed, and began to cry again. So they left
her and drove away in their wagon. And her husband came out and
began calling "Help!" as he had before; but no one seemed to pay any
attention to him.
As the travelers turned into another street they found a man walking
excitedly up and down the pavement. He appeared to be in a very
nervous condition and the Wizard stopped him to ask:
"
"
"
"
Is anything wrong, sir?"
Everything is wrong," answered the man, dismally. "I can't sleep."
Why not?" inquired Omby Amby.
If I go to sleep I'll have to shut my eyes," he explained; "and if I shut my
eyes they may grow together, and then I'd be blind for life!"
"
"
Did you ever hear of any one's eyes growing together?" asked Dorothy.
No," said the man, "I never did. But it would be a dreadful thing,
wouldn't it? And the thought of it makes me so nervous I'm afraid to go
to sleep."
"
There's no help for this case," declared the Wizard; and they went on.
At the next street corner a woman rushed up to them crying:
"
"
Save my baby! Oh, good, kind people, save my baby!"
Is it in danger?" asked Dorothy, noticing that the child was clasped in
her arms and seemed sleeping peacefully.
"
Yes, indeed," said the woman, nervously. "If I should go into the house
and throw my child out of the window, it would roll way down to the
bottom of the hill; and then if there were a lot of tigers and bears down
there, they would tear my darling babe to pieces and eat it up!"
"
Are there any tigers and bears in this neighborhood?" the Wizard asked.
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