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Now the one thing in all the world that the straw man really feared was fire.

He knew he would burn very easily and that his ashes wouldn't amount to

much afterward. It wouldn't hurt him to be destroyed in such a manner, but

he realized that many people in the Land of Oz, and especially Dorothy and

the Royal Ozma, would feel sad if they learned that their old friend the

Scarecrow was no longer in existence.

In spite of this, the straw man was brave and faced his fiery fate like a hero.

When they marched him out before the concourse of people he turned to the

King with great calmness and said:

This wicked deed will cost you your throne, as well as much suffering, for my

friends will avenge my destruction."

Your friends are not here, nor will they know what I have done to you, when

you are gone and can-not tell them," answered the King in a scornful voice.

Then he ordered the Scarecrow bound to a stout stake that he had had driven

into the ground, and the materials for the fire were heaped all around him.

When this had been done, the King's brass band struck up a lively tune and

old Googly-Goo came forward with a lighted match and set fire to the pile.

At once the flames shot up and crept closer and closer toward the Scarecrow.

The King and all his people were so intent upon this terrible spectacle that

none of them noticed how the sky grew suddenly dark. Perhaps they thought

that the loud buzzing sound--like the noise of a dozen moving railway trains--

came from the blazing fagots; that the rush of wind was merely a breeze. But

suddenly down swept a flock of Orks, half a hundred of them at the least, and

the powerful currents of air caused by their revolving tails sent the bonfire

scattering in every direction, so that not one burning brand ever touched the

Scarecrow.

But that was not the only effect of this sudden tornado. King Krewl was blown

out of his throne and went tumbling heels over head until he landed with a

bump against the stone wall of his own castle, and before he could rise a big

Ork sat upon him and held him pressed flat to the ground. Old Googly-Goo

shot up into the air like a rocket and landed on a tree, where he hung by the

middle on a high limb, kicking the air with his feet and clawing the air with

his hands, and howling for mercy like the coward he was.

The people pressed back until they were jammed close together, while all the

soldiers were knocked over and sent sprawling to the earth. The excitement

The Scarecrow of Oz