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6. How Guph Visited the Whimsies

The new General of the Nome King's army knew perfectly well that to fail

in his plans meant death for him. Yet he was not at all anxious or

worried. He hated every one who was good and longed to make all who

were happy unhappy. Therefore he had accepted this dangerous position

as General quite willingly, feeling sure in his evil mind that he would be

able to do a lot of mischief and finally conquer the Land of Oz.

Yet Guph determined to be careful, and to lay his plans well, so as not to

fail. He argued that only careless people fail in what they attempt to do.

The mountains underneath which the Nome King's extensive caverns

were located lay grouped just north of the Land of Ev, which lay directly

across the deadly desert to the east of the Land of Oz. As the mountains

were also on the edge of the desert the Nome King found that he had only

to tunnel underneath the desert to reach Ozma's dominions. He did not

wish his armies to appear above ground in the Country of the Winkies,

which was the part of the Land of Oz nearest to King Roquat's own

country, as then the people would give the alarm and enable Ozma to

fortify the Emerald City and assemble an army. He wanted to take all

the Oz people by surprise; so he decided to run the tunnel clear through

to the Emerald City, where he and his hosts could break through the

ground without warning and conquer the people before they had time to

defend themselves.

Roquat the Red began work at once upon his tunnel, setting a thousand

miners at the task and building it high and broad enough for his armies

to march through it with ease. The Nomes were used to making tunnels,

as all the kingdom in which they lived was under ground; so they made

rapid progress.

While this work was going on General Guph started out alone to visit the

Chief of the Whimsies.

These Whimsies were curious people who lived in a retired country of

their own. They had large, strong bodies, but heads so small that they

were no bigger than door-knobs. Of course, such tiny heads could not

contain any great amount of brains, and the Whimsies were so ashamed

of their personal appearance and lack of commonsense that they wore

big heads made of pasteboard, which they fastened over their own little

The Emerald City of Oz