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down on the ground and said, "Well, I'm lost again. It's too bad, but I don't see

how it can be helped."

As he leaned his back against a tree, he looked up and saw a Bluefinch fly

down from the sky and alight upon a branch just before him. The bird looked

and looked at him. First it looked with one bright eye and then turned its

head and looked at him with the other eye. Then, fluttering its wings a little,

it said, "Oho! So you've eaten the enchanted peach, have you?"

Was it enchanted?" asked Button-Bright.

Of course," replied the Bluefinch. "Ugu the Shoemaker did that."

But why? And how was it enchanted? And what will happen to one who eats

it?" questioned the boy.

Ask Ugu the Shoemaker. He knows," said the bird, preening its feathers with

its bill.

And who is Ugu the Shoemaker?"

The one who enchanted the peach and placed it here--in the exact center of

the Great Orchard--so no one would ever find it. We birds didn't dare to eat it;

we are too wise for that. But you are Button-Bright from the Emerald City,

and you, YOU, YOU ate the enchanted peach! You must explain to Ugu the

Shoemaker why you did that."

And then, before the boy could ask any more questions, the bird flew away

and left him alone.

Button-Bright was not much worried to find that the peach he had eaten was

enchanted. It certainly had tasted very good, and his stomach didn't ache a

bit. So again he began to reflect upon the best way to rejoin his friends.

Whichever direction I follow is likely to be the wrong one," he said to himself,

so I'd better stay just where I am and let THEM find ME--if they can."

A White Rabbit came hopping through the orchard and paused a little way off

to look at him. "Don't be afraid," said Button-Bright. "I won't hurt you."

Oh, I'm not afraid for myself," returned the White Rabbit. "It's you I'm

worried about."

Yes, I'm lost," said the boy.

The Lost Princess of Oz