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but as soon as it had carried her away from her enemies the Gump was taken
apart, so it doesn't exist any more."
"
It's too bad the Powder of Life was all used up," remarked the shaggy man; "it
would be a handy thing to have around."
"
I am not so sure of that, sir," answered the Tin Woodman. "A while ago the
crooked Sorcerer who invented the Magic Powder fell down a precipice and
was killed. All his possessions went to a relative--an old woman named Dyna,
who lives in the Emerald City. She went to the mountains where the Sorcerer
had lived and brought away everything she thought of value. Among them
was a small bottle of the Powder of Life; but of course Dyna didn't know it was
a Magic Powder, at all. It happened she had once had a big blue bear for a
pet; but the bear choked to death on a fishbone one day, and she loved it so
dearly that Dyna made a rug of its skin, leaving the head and four paws on
the hide. She kept the rug on the floor of her front parlor."
"
I've seen rugs like that," said the shaggy man, nodding, "but never one made
from a blue bear."
"
Well," continued the Tin Woodman, "the old woman had an idea that the
Powder in the bottle must be moth-powder, because it smelled something like
moth-powder; so one day she sprinkled it on her bear rug to keep the moths
out of it. She said, looking lovingly at the skin: 'I wish my dear bear were alive
again!' To her horror, the bear rug at once came to life, having been sprinkled
with the Magic Powder; and now this live bear rug is a great trial to her, and
makes her a lot of trouble."
"
"
Why?" asked the shaggy man.
Well, it stands up on its four feet and walks all around, and gets in the way;
and that spoils it for a rug. It can't speak, although it is alive; for, while its
head might say words, it has no breath in a solid body to push the words out
of its mouth. It's a very slimpsy affair altogether, that bear rug, and the old
woman is sorry it came to life. Every day she has to scold it, and make it lie
down flat on the parlor floor to be walked upon; but sometimes when she goes
to market the rug will hump up its back skin, and stand on its four feet, and
trot along after her."
"
"
I should think Dyna would like that," said Dorothy.
Well, she doesn't; because every one knows it isn't a real bear, but just a
hollow skin, and so of no actual use in the world except for a rug," answered
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