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CHAPTER 5 - SIR HOKUS OF POKES
It was long past sunup before Dorothy awoke. She rubbed her eyes, yawned
once or twice, and then shook the Cowardly Lion. The gates of the city were
open, and although it looked even grayer in the daytime than it looked at
night, the travelers were too hungry to be particular. A large placard was
posted just inside:
THIS IS POKES!
DON'T WHISTLE!
DON'T RUN!
Order of the Chief Poker.
DON'T SING!
TALK SLOWLY!
read Dorothy. "How cheerful! Hah, hoh, hum-mm!"
"
Don't!" begged the Cowardly Lion with tears in his eyes. "If I yawn again, I'll
swallow my tail, and if I don't have something to eat soon, I'll do it anyway.
Let's hurry! There's something queer about this place, Dorothy! Ah, hah,
hoh, hum-mm!"
Stifling their yawns, the two started down the long, narrow street. The
houses were of gray stone, tall and stiff with tiny barred windows. It was
absolutely quiet, and not a person was in sight. But when they turned the
corner, they saw a crowd of queer-looking people creeping toward them.
These singular individuals stopped between each step and stood perfectly
still, and Dorothy was so surprised at their unusual appearance that she
laughed right in the middle of a yawn.
In the first place, they never lifted their feet, but pushed them along like
skates. The women were dressed in gray polka-dot dresses with huge poke
bonnets that almost hid their fat, sleepy, wide-mouthed faces. Most of them
had pet snails on strings, and so slowly did they move that it looked as
though the snails were tugging them along.
The men were dressed like a party of congressmen, but instead of high hats
wore large red nightcaps, and they were all as solemn as owls. It seemed
impossible for them to keep both eyes open at the same time, and at first
Dorothy thought they were winking at her. But as the whole company
continued to stare fixedly with one open eye, she burst out laughing. At the
unexpected sound (for no one had ever laughed in Pokes before), the women
picked up their snails in a great fright, and the men clapped their fingers to
their ears or to the places where their ears were under the red nightcaps.
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