The Magic of Oz

CHAPTER 1. Mount Munch

On the east edge of the Land of Oz, in the Munchkin Country, is a big,

tall hill called Mount Munch. One one side, the bottom of this hill just

touches the Deadly Sandy Desert that separates the Fairyland of Oz from

all the rest of the world, but on the other side, the hill touches the beautiful,

fertile Country of the Munchkins.

The Munchkin folks, however, merely stand off and look at Mount

Munch and know very little about it; for, about a third of the way up, its

sides become too steep to climb, and if any people live upon the top of that

great towering peak that seems to reach nearly to the skies, the Munchkins

are not aware of the fact.

But people DO live there, just the same. The top of Mount Munch is

shaped like a saucer, broad and deep, and in the saucer are fields where

grains and vegetables grow, and flocks are fed, and brooks flow and trees

bear all sorts of things. There are houses scattered here and there, each

having its family of Hyups, as the people call themselves. The Hyups

seldom go down the mountain, for the same reason that the Munchkins

never climb up: the sides are too steep.

In one of the houses lived a wise old Hyup named Bini Aru, who used

to be a clever Sorcerer. But Ozma of Oz, who rules everyone in the Land

of Oz, had made a decree that no one should practice magic in her

dominions except Glinda the Good and the Wizard of Oz, and when

Glinda sent this royal command to the Hyups by means of a strong-winged

Eagle, old Bini Aru at once stopped performing magical arts. He destroyed

many of his magic powders and tools of magic, and afterward honestly

obeyed the law. He had never seen Ozma, but he knew she was his Ruler

and must be obeyed.

There was only one thing that grieved him. He had discovered a new

and secret method of transformations that was unknown to any other

Sorcerer. Glinda the Good did not know it, nor did the little Wizard of Oz,

nor Dr. Pipt nor old Mombi, nor anyone else who dealt in magic arts. It