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bodies didn't match up well and some parts were missing. But by using a
piece of Captain Fyter here and a piece of Nick Chopper there, I finally got
together a very decent body, with heart and all the trimmings complete."
"
Whose heart did you use in making the body?" asked the Tin Woodman
anxiously.
"I can't tell, for the parts had no tags on them and one heart looks much like
another. After the body was completed, I glued two fine legs and feet onto it.
One leg was Nick Chopper's and one was Captain Fyter's and, finding one
leg longer than the other, I trimmed it down to make them match. I was
much disappointed to find that I had but one arm. There was an extra leg in
the barrel, but I could find only one arm. Having glued this onto the body, I
was ready for the head, and I had some difficulty in making up my mind
which head to use. Finally I shut my eyes and reached out my hand toward
the cupboard shelf, and the first head I touched I glued upon my new man."
"It was mine!" declared the Tin Soldier, gloomily.
"No, it was mine," asserted Ku-Klip, "for I had given you another in exchange
for it--the beautiful tin head you now wear. When the glue had dried, my
man was quite an interesting fellow. I named him Chopfyt, using a part of
Nick Chopper's name and a part of Captain Fyter's name, because he was a
mixture of both your cast-off parts. Chopfyt was interesting, as I said, but
he did not prove a very agreeable companion. He complained bitterly
because I had given him but one arm--as if it were my fault!--and he
grumbled because the suit of blue Munchkin clothes, which I got for him
from a neighbor, did not fit him perfectly."
"Ah, that was because he was wearing my old head," remarked the Tin
Soldier. "I remember that head used to be very particular about its clothes."
"As an assistant," the old tinsmith continued, "Chopfyt was not a success.
He was awkward with tools and was always hungry. He demanded
something to eat six or eight times a day, so I wondered if I had fitted his
insides properly. Indeed, Chopfyt ate so much that little food was left for
myself; so, when he proposed, one day, to go out into the world and seek
adventures, I was delighted to be rid of him. I even made him a tin arm to
take the place of the missing one, and that pleased him very much, so that
we parted good friends."
"
What became of Chopfyt after that?" the Scarecrow inquired.
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