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Chapter Four- The Loons of Loonville

Toward evening, the travelers found there was no longer a path to guide

them, and the purple hues of the grass and trees warned them that they

were now in the Country of the Gillikins, where strange peoples dwelt in

places that were quite unknown to the other inhabitants of Oz. The fields

were wild and uncultivated and there were no houses of any sort to be seen.

But our friends kept on walking even after the sun went down, hoping to

find a good place for Woot the Wanderer to sleep; but when it grew quite

dark and the boy was weary with his long walk, they halted right in the

middle of a field and allowed Woot to get his supper from the food he carried

in his knapsack. Then the Scarecrow laid himself down, so that Woot could

use his stuffed body as a pillow, and the Tin Woodman stood up beside

them all night, so the dampness of the ground might not rust his joints or

dull his brilliant polish. Whenever the dew settled on his body he carefully

wiped it off with a cloth, and so in the morning the Emperor shone as

brightly as ever in the rays of the rising sun.

They wakened the boy at daybreak, the Scarecrow saying to him:

We have discovered something queer, and therefore we must counsel

together what to do about it."

"What have you discovered?" asked Woot, rubbing the sleep from his eyes

with his knuckles and giving three wide yawns to prove he was fully awake.

A Sign," said the Tin Woodman. "A Sign, and another path."

What does the Sign say?" inquired the boy.

It says that 'All Strangers are Warned not to Follow this Path to Loonville,'"

answered the Scarecrow, who could read very well when his eyes had been

freshly painted.

"In that case," said the boy, opening his knapsack to get some breakfast, "let

us travel in some other direction."

But this did not seem to please either of his companions.

I'd like to see what Loonville looks like," remarked the Tin Woodman.

When one travels, it is foolish to miss any interesting sight," added the

Scarecrow.

The Tin Woodman of Oz