The Magic of Oz

CHAPTER 11. The Beasts of the

Forest of Gugu

That was a wonderful gathering of wild animals in the Forest of Gugu

next sunrise. Rango, the Gray Ape, had even called his monkey sentinels

away from the forest edge, and every beast, little and big, was in the great

clearing where meetings were held on occasions of great importance.

In the center of the clearing stood a great shelving rock, having a flat,

inclined surface, and on this sat the stately Leopard Gugu, who was King

of the Forest. On the ground beneath him squatted Bru the Bear, Loo the

Unicorn, and Rango the Gray Ape, the King's three Counselors, and in

front of them stood the two strange beasts who had called themselves Li-

Mon-Eags, but were really the transformations of Ruggedo the Nome, and

Kiki Aru the Hyup.

Then came the beasts--rows and rows and rows of them! The smallest

beasts were nearest the King's rock throne; then there were wolves and

foxes, lynxes and hyenas, and the like; behind them were gathered the

monkey tribes, who were hard to keep in order because they teased the

other animals and were full of mischievous tricks. Back of the monkeys

were the pumas, jaguars, tigers and lions, and their kind; next the bears, all

sizes and colors; after them bisons, wild asses, zebras and unicorns; farther

on the rhinoceri and hippopotami, and at the far edge of the forest, close to

the trees that shut in the clearing, was a row of thick-skinned elephants,

still as statues but with eyes bright and intelligent.

Many other kinds of beasts, too numerous to mention, were there, and

some were unlike any beasts we see in the menageries and zoos in our

country. Some were from the mountains west of the forest, and some from

the plains at the east, and some from the river; but all present

acknowledged the leadership of Gugu, who for many years had ruled them

wisely and forced all to obey the laws.

When the beasts had taken their places in the clearing and the rising