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To learn is simple. Don't you ask questions?" inquired the Scarecrow.

Yes; I ask as many questions as I dare; but some people refuse to answer

questions."

"That is not kind of them," declared the Tin Woodman. "If one does not ask

for information he seldom receives it; so I, for my part, make it a rule to

answer any civil question that is asked me."

So do I," added the Scarecrow, nodding.

I am glad to hear this," said the Wanderer, "for it makes me bold to ask for

something to eat."

"Bless the boy!" cried the Emperor of the Winkies; "how careless of me not to

remember that wanderers are usually hungry. I will have food brought you

at once."

Saying this he blew upon a tin whistle that was suspended from his tin

neck, and at the summons a servant appeared and bowed low. The Tin

Woodman ordered food for the stranger, and in a few minutes the servant

brought in a tin tray heaped with a choice array of good things to eat, all

neatly displayed on tin dishes that were polished till they shone like mirrors.

The tray was set upon a tin table drawn before the throne, and the servant

placed a tin chair before the table for the boy to seat himself.

"Eat, friend Wanderer," said the Emperor cordially, "and I trust the feast will

be to your liking. I, myself, do not eat, being made in such manner that I

require no food to keep me alive. Neither does my friend the Scarecrow. But

all my Winkie people eat, being formed of flesh, as you are, and so my tin

cupboard is never bare, and strangers are always welcome to whatever it

contains."

The boy ate in silence for a time, being really hungry, but after his appetite

was somewhat satisfied, he said:

How happened your Majesty to be made of tin, and still be alive?"

That," replied the tin man, "is a long story."

The longer the better," said the boy. "Won't you please tell me the story?"

If you desire it," promised the Tin Woodman, leaning back in his tin throne

and crossing his tin legs. "I haven't related my history in a long while,

because everyone here knows it nearly as well as I do. But you, being a

The Tin Woodman of Oz