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Scarecrow came along and rescued me. They oiled my joints and set me free,

and I've taken good care never to rust again."

Who was this Dorothy?" questioned the Wanderer.

A little girl who happened to be in a house when it was carried by a cyclone

all the way from Kansas to the Land of Oz. When the house fell, in the

Munchkin Country, it fortunately landed on the Wicked Witch and smashed

her flat. It was a big house, and I think the Witch is under it yet."

"No," said the Scarecrow, correcting him, "Dorothy says the Witch turned to

dust, and the wind scattered the dust in every direction."

Well," continued the Tin Woodman, "after meeting the Scarecrow and

Dorothy, I went with them to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz gave

me a heart. But the Wizard's stock of hearts was low, and he gave me a Kind

Heart instead of a Loving Heart, so that I could not love Nimmie Amee any

more than I did when I was heartless."

"Couldn't the Wizard give you a heart that was both Kind and Loving?"

asked the boy.

No; that was what I asked for, but he said he was so short on hearts, just

then, that there was but one in stock, and I could take that or none at all.

So I accepted it, and I must say that for its kind it is a very good heart

indeed."

"It seems to me," said Woot, musingly, "that the Wizard fooled you. It can't

be a very Kind Heart, you know."

"Why not?" demanded the Emperor.

"Because it was unkind of you to desert the girl who loved you, and who had

been faithful and true to you when you were in trouble. Had the heart the

Wizard gave you been a Kind Heart, you would have gone back home and

made the beautiful Munchkin girl your wife, and then brought her here to

be an Empress and live in your splendid tin castle."

The Tin Woodman was so surprised at this frank speech that for a time he

did nothing but stare hard at the boy Wanderer. But the Scarecrow wagged

his stuffed head and said in a positive tone:

This boy is right. I've often wondered, myself, why you didn't go back and

find that poor Munchkin girl."

The Tin Woodman of Oz