The Magic of Oz

CHAPTER 14. The Wizard Learns

the Magic Word

Now, the Goose was the transformation of old Ruggedo, who was at

one time King of the Nomes, and he was even more angry at Kiki Aru than

were the others who shapes had been changed. The Nome detested

anything in the way of a bird, because birds lay eggs and eggs are feared

by all the Nomes more than anything else in the world. A goose is a

foolish bird, too, and Ruggedo was dreadfully ashamed of the shape he

was forced to wear. And it would make him shudder to reflect that the

Goose might lay an egg!

So the Nome was afraid of himself and afraid of everything around

him. If an egg touched him he could then be destroyed, and almost any

animal he met in the forest might easily conquer him. And that would be

the end of old Ruggedo the Nome.

Aside from these fears, however, he was filled with anger against Kiki,

whom he had meant to trap by cleverly stealing from him the Magic Word.

The boy must have been crazy to spoil everything the way he did, but

Ruggedo knew that the arrival of the Wizard had scared Kiki, and he was

not sorry the boy had transformed the Wizard and Dorothy and made them

helpless. It was his own transformation that annoyed him and made him

indignant, so he ran about the forest hunting for Kiki, so that he might get

a better shape and coax the boy to follow his plans to conquer the Land of

Oz.

Kiki Aru hadn't gone very far away, for he had surprised himself as

well as the others by the quick transformations and was puzzled as to what

to do next. Ruggedo the Nome was overbearing and tricky, and Kiki knew

he was not to be depended on; but the Nome could plan and plot, which

the Hyup boy was not wise enough to do, and so, when he looked down

through the branches of a tree and saw a Goose waddling along below and

heard it cry out, "Kiki Aru! Quack--quack! Kiki Aru!" the boy answered in