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CHAPTER 15 - THE THREE PRINCES PLOT TO UNDO THE EMPEROR

Let me help your Imperial Serenity!"

Bring a cane!"

Carefully, now!"

The three royal Princes, with every show of affection, were supporting the

Scarecrow to the silver bench in the garden where he usually sat during

luncheon.

"Are you quite comfortable?" asked the elder. "Here, Happy, you rogue, fetch

a scarf for his Imperial Highness. You must be careful, dear Papa Scarecrow.

At your age, drafts are dangerous." The rascally Prince wound the scarf

about the Scarecrow's neck.

What do you suppose they are up to?" asked the Scarecrow, staring after

the three suspiciously. "Why this sudden devotion? It upsets my Imperial

Serenity a lot."

Trying to make you feel old," grumbled Happy. Several hours had passed

since they had overheard the conversation in the garden. The Scarecrow had

decided to watch his sons closely and fall in with any plan they suggested so

they would suspect nothing. Then, when the time came, he would act. Just

what he would do he did not know, but his excellent brains would not, he

felt sure, desert him. Happy Toko sat as close to the Scarecrow as he could

and scowled terribly whenever the Princes approached, which was every

minute or so during the afternoon.

"How is the Scarecrow's celestial old head?"

"Does he suffer from honorable gout?"

"Should they fetch the Imperial Doctor?"

The Scarecrow, who had never thought of age in his whole straw life,

became extremely nervous.

Was he really old? Did his head ache? When no one was looking, he felt

himself carefully all over. Then something of his old time Oz spirit returned.

Seizing the cushion that his eldest son was placing at his back, he hurled it

over his head. Leaping from his throne, he began turning handsprings in a

careless and sprightly manner.

The Royal Book of Oz