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"Oh, chop the brown clods as they fall with a thud!
Three croaks for
the Middlings, who stick in the Mud.
mud, sweet and squirmy!
lovely as Mud! Three croaks for the Middlings, who delve all the day
Oh, mud, rich and wormy! Oh,
Oh what is so lovely as Mud! Oh what is so
In their beautiful Kingdom of soft mud and clay!"
The croaks that came at the end of the song were so terrifying that the
Scarecrow shivered in spite of himself.
"Ugh! Hardly a place for a pleasant visit!" he gasped, flattening himself
against the wall of the passage. Feeling that matters had gone far enough,
he repeated in a loud voice:
"I am the Scarecrow of Oz and desire to continue my fall. I have paid my toll
and unless your Royal Middleness release me--"
"Might as well drop him--a useless creature!" whispered Muddle, and before
the King had time to object, he jerked the board back. "Fall on!" he
screeched maliciously, and the Scarecrow shot down into the darkness, the
hoarse screams of the two Middlings echoing after him through the gloom.
No use trying to think! The poor Scarecrow bumped and banged from side to
side of the passage. It was all he could do to keep hold of the bean pole, so
swiftly was he falling.
"A good thing I'm not made of meat like little Dorothy," he wheezed
breathlessly. His gloves were getting worn through from friction with the
pole, and the rush of air past his ears was so confusing that he gave up all
idea of thinking. Even magic brains refuse to work under such conditions.
Down--down--down he plunged till he lost all count of time. Down--down--
down--hours and hours! Would he never stop? Then suddenly it grew quite
light, and he flashed through what appeared to be a hole in the roof of a
huge silver palace, whirled down several stories and landed in a heap on the
floor of a great hall. In one hand he clutched a small fan, and in the other a
parasol that had snapped off the beanstalk just before he reached the palace
roof.
Shaken and bent over double though he was, the Scarecrow could see that
he had fallen into a company of great magnificence. He had a confused
glimpse of silken clad courtiers, embroidered screens, inlaid floors, and
flashing silver lanterns, when there was a thundering bang that hurled him
halfway to the roof again. Falling to a sitting position and still clinging to the
bean pole, he saw two giant kettle drums nearby, still vibrating from the
terrible blows they had received.
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