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called him Emperor, but how could that be? He turned to address the Grand

Chew Chew; then as he saw out of the corner of his eye that the assemblage

were making ready to fall upon their faces, he exclaimed in a hoarse

whisper:

"May I speak to you alone?" The Grand Chew Chew waved his hand

imperiously, and the courtiers with a great crackling of silver brocade

backed from the hall.

"Very kind of them to bow, but I wish they wouldn't," sighed the Scarecrow,

sinking back on the great throne. "It blows one about so. I declare, if

another person falls at my feet, I'll have nervous prostration."

Again he took a long survey of the hall, then turned to the Grand Chew

Chew. "Would you mind," he asked simply, "telling me again who I am and

how?"

"Who and how? Who--You are, illustrious Sir, the Emperor Chang Wang

Woe, or to be more exact, his spirit!"

I have always been a spirited person," observed the Scarecrow dubiously,

but never a spirit without a person. I must insist on being a person."

How?" the Grand Chew Chew proceeded without noticing the Scarecrow's

remarks. "Fifty years ago--after your Extreme Highness had defeated in

battle the King of the Golden Islands--a magician entered the realm. This

magician, in the employ of this wicked king, entered a room in the palace

where your Highness lay sleeping and by an act of necromancy changed you

to a crocus!"

Ouch!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, shuddering involuntarily.

"And had it not been for the Empress, your faithful wife, you would have

been lost forever to the Empire."

Wife?" gasped the Scarecrow faintly. "Have I a wife?"

If your Highness will permit me to finish," begged the Grand Chew Chew

with great dignity. The Scarecrow nodded. "Your wife, Tsing Tsing, the

beautiful, took the crocus, which was fading rapidly, and planted it in a

silver bowl in the center of this very hall and for three days kept it fresh with

her tears. Waking on the third morning, the Empress was amazed to see in

place of the crocus a giant bean pole that extended to the roof of the palace

and disappeared among the clouds."

The Royal Book of Oz