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and the yellow Country of the Winkies to the west. It was toward the west

that Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion turned their steps, for it was in the

Winkie Country that the Scarecrow had built his gorgeous golden tower in

exactly the shape of a huge ear of corn.

Dorothy ran along beside the Cowardly Lion, chatting over their many

adventures in Oz, and stopping now and then to pick buttercups and daisies

that dotted the roadside. She tied a big bunch to the tip of her friend's tail

and twined some more in his mane, so that he presented a very festive

appearance indeed. Then, when she grew tired, she climbed on his big back,

and swiftly they jogged through the pleasant land of the Winkies. The people

waved to them from windows and fields, for everyone loved little Dorothy

and the big lion, and as they passed a neat yellow cottage, a little Winkie

Lady came running down the path with a cup of tea in one hand and a

bucket in the other.

I saw you coming and thought you might be thirsty," she called hospitably.

Dorothy drank her cup without alighting.

We're in an awful hurry; we're visiting the Scarecrow," she exclaimed

apologetically. The lion drank his bucket of tea at one gulp. It was so hot

that it made his eyes water.

"How I loathe tea! If I hadn't been such a coward, I'd have upset the bucket,"

groaned the lion as the little Winkie Lady went back into her house. "But no,

I was afraid of hurting her feelings. Ugh, what a terrible thing it is to be a

coward!"

"Nonsense!" said Dorothy, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief. "You're

not a coward, you're just polite. But let's run very fast so we can reach the

Scarecrow's in time for lunch."

So like the wind away raced the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy holding fast to his

mane, with her curls blowing straight out behind, and in exactly two Oz

hours and seventeen Winkie minutes they came to the dazzling corn-ear

residence of their old friend. Hurrying through the cornfields that

surrounded his singular mansion, Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion rushed

through the open door.

"We've come for lunch," announced Dorothy.

"And I'm hungry enough to eat crow," rumbled the lion. Then both stopped

in dismay, for the big reception room was empty. From a room above came a

The Royal Book of Oz