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I wish father would come for me," sighed the pretty Rainbow's Daughter, "I

would take you all to live upon the rainbow, where you could dance along its

rays from morning till night, without a care or worry of any sort. But I

suppose father's too busy just now to search the world for me."

Don't want to dance," said Button-Bright, sitting down wearily upon the soft

grass.

It's very good of you, Polly," said Dorothy; "but there are other things that

would suit me better than dancing on rainbows. I'm 'fraid they'd be kind of

soft an' squashy under foot, anyhow, although they're so pretty to look at."

This didn't help to solve the problem, and they all fell silent and looked at one

another questioningly.

Really, I don't know what to do," muttered the shaggy man, gazing hard at

Toto; and the little dog wagged his tail and said "Bow-wow!" just as if he could

not tell, either, what to do. Button-Bright got a stick and began to dig in the

earth, and the others watched him for a while in deep thought. Finally, the

shaggy man said:

It's nearly evening, now; so we may as well sleep in this pretty place and get

rested; perhaps by morning we can decide what is best to be done."

There was little chance to make beds for the children, but the leaves of the

trees grew thickly and would serve to keep off the night dews, so the shaggy

man piled soft grasses in the thickest shade and when it was dark they lay

down and slept peacefully until morning.

Long after the others were asleep, however, the shaggy man sat in the

starlight by the spring, gazing thoughtfully into its bubbling waters. Suddenly

he smiled and nodded to himself as if he had found a good thought, after

which he, too, laid himself down under a tree and was soon lost in slumber.

In the bright morning sunshine, as they ate of the strawberries and sweet

juicy pears, Dorothy said:

Polly, can you do any magic?"

No dear," answered Polychrome, shaking her dainty head.

You ought to know SOME magic, being the Rainbow's Daughter," continued

Dorothy, earnestly.

The Road to Oz