The Magic of Oz

CHAPTER 7. The Forest of Gugu

In the central western part of the Gillikin Country is a great tangle of

trees called Gugu Forest. It is the biggest forest in all Oz and stretches

miles and miles in every direction--north, south, east and west. Adjoining

it on the east side is a range of rugged mountains covered with underbrush

and small twisted trees. You can find this place by looking at the Map of

the Land of Oz.

Gugu Forest is the home of most of the wild beasts that inhabit Oz.

These are seldom disturbed in their leafy haunts because there is no reason

why Oz people should go there, except on rare occasions, and most parts

of the forest have never been seen by any eyes but the eyes of the beasts

who make their home there. The biggest beasts inhabit the great forest,

while the smaller ones live mostly in the mountain underbrush at the east.

Now, you must know that there are laws in the forests, as well as in

every other place, and these laws are made by the beasts themselves, and

are necessary to keep them from fighting and tearing one another to pieces.

In Gugu Forest there is a King--an enormous yellow leopard called

Gugu"--after whom the forest is named. And this King has three other

beasts to advise him in keeping the laws and maintaining order--Bru the

Bear, Loo the Unicorn and Rango the Gray Ape--who are known as the

King's Counselors. All these are fierce and ferocious beasts, and hold their

high offices because they are more intelligent and more feared then their

fellows.

Since Oz became a fairyland, no man, woman or child ever dies in that

land nor is anyone ever sick. Likewise the beasts of the forests never die,

so that long years add to their cunning and wisdom, as well as to their size

and strength. It is possible for beasts--or even people--to be destroyed, but

the task is so difficult that it is seldom attempted. Because it is free from

sickness and death is one reason why Oz is a fairyland, but it is doubtful

whether those who come to Oz from the outside world, as Dorothy and

Button-Bright and Trot and Cap'n Bill and the Wizard did, will live forever