Wandering around in the land of Oz

The Oz books are a favorite of ours: this copy of L.Frank Baum’s Ozma of Oz
has been in Len’s family for nearly 90 years, and now belongs to our daughter Evelyn.

When she was in fourth or fifth grade, Evelyn dressed as Ozma for Halloween.
If you are a fan of the Oz books, you know that Ozma was the ruler of this fairy-tale country.

Dorothy, Ozma, and Other Oz Characters

Ozma of Oz with the Scarecrow, a familiar character from the first book in the series.

Dorothy with the Nome King, whom she meets in Ozma of Oz.

You probably remember Dorothy, who visited Oz in the original book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which was published in 1900). Dorothy was portrayed by Judy Garland in the extremely well-known and loved 1939 movie. In Ozma of Oz, the third book in the Oz series (published 1907), Dorothy returns for another visit some time after the magic slippers brought her back to Kansas. This time, she’s carried to Oz in a shipwreck, rather than by a cyclone. One part of her adventure is thwarting the evil Nome King, who is shown on his throne in the above illustration. In every book, some of the familiar characters reappear, like the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and Glinda the Good Witch, along with new and unusual ones, such as the Nome King.

The details in Ozma of Oz (and also the other Oz books) are always amusing, and for an adult reader they also are revealing about life and expectations in the early 20th century. Here’s an example: Dorothy, having recently landed on the shore of a fairyland near Oz, is very hungry, and finds a tree that produces tin dinner pails. She picks one and finds that it contains a full meal — just what she needs:

“In the cover she found a small tank that was full of very nice lemonade. It was covered by a cup, which might also, when removed, be used to drink the lemonade from. Within the pail were three slices of turkey, two slices of cold tongue, some lobster salad, four slices of bread and butter, a small custard pie, an orange and nine large strawberries, and some nuts and raisins. Singularly enough, the nuts in this dinner-pail grew already cracked, so that Dorothy had no trouble in picking out their meats to eat.” 

 

Dorothy opens her dinner pail. Nearby is Bellina, a barnyard hen who shares her adventures.
Like most creatures in Oz, Bellina can talk and has quite strong opinions.

My Return to Oz   

Thanks to a review by Deb at Readerbuzz, I started thinking about the Oz books, and how I read them as a child and then how we read them to Evelyn. Just reading and thinking about Oz books makes me feel a bit incoherent, because they have such complicated plots and so many irrational occurrences and bizarre characters. So from this point on, I’m going to ramble about my childhood memories of the books and about the two books I read this week while visiting Evelyn in Virginia.

Most of the Oz books that I read as a child were from the public library that was near the house where I grew up. A librarian sat in the middle of the children’s department where I would find the books I wanted and check them out by writing my name on a card from the back of the book. The librarian put the card in a little box and stamped a due-date on a paper inside the book. Thinking of Oz makes me think about the library because most of the Oz books I read were library books. I remember one book where the Scarecrow dug a really deep hole, fell in, and went all the way to China. This was what kids back then thought would happen if you dug a very deep hole.

Besides Ozma, I reread this Oz book in a Dover reprint.

Ozma of Oz, as I said, is the third book in Baum’s series. One of the most memorable adventures in Oz took place in the second book in the series, titled The Marvelous Land of Oz. In this book, the reader learns how Ozma, a beautiful young girl, became the ruler of Oz. This mysterious country, whose capital was the Emerald City, had formerly been ruled by the Wizard. After he helped Dorothy return to Kansas in the well-known first book, he had left in a balloon and was never seen again. The Scarecrow from the first book had become the ruler of Oz.

Among many other creatures, a strange creature called a Gump featured in this adventure. The Gump was a flying machine cobbled together from two high-back Victorian sofas. (Historic Note: Queen Victoria was actually still on the throne when the first Oz book was published, and the Wright brothers’ first flight was a few months before the Gump made its appearance in Oz). On the front end of the sofas, which were tied together with clothes line by the Scarecrow, the mounted head of a fictitious game animal called a Gump, which gave its name to the whole apparatus. The Gump also had wings attached, which were made of palm fronds, and had a broom for a tail. 

A boy named Tip used “the magic powder of life” to make the Gump come alive. This life-giving potion had been obtained by a witch named Mombi from a wizard named Dr. Nikidik. Tip and his friends, including the Scarecrow, needed to fly in order to escape from an army of girls led by one General Jinjur. She and her army had taken over the Emerald City in order to steal all the jewels that were embedded in the streets, and to force all the men to cook and take care of the children so that the women could do whatever they liked.

This is General Jinjur with her army, demanding entry to the Emerald City.
When she took over, she threatened the Scarecrow, Tip, and their friends with
dire punishments, so they designed and built the Gump in order to escape from her.

Is this complicated enough for you? It’s just the beginning of the book, and typical of the Oz books, which usually have a large number of characters who get into trouble and then think up magical and wonderful ways to get out of it. This utter complexity is what I remember from my childhood reading. The Gump is a wonderful creature that I particularly remember from reading aloud to children much later.

The Gump files away with Tip, the Scarecrow, and friends.

An early edition of The Marvelous Land of Oz, originally published in 1904.

What’s it like in the Land of Oz? 

In another book in the  Oz series, The Emerald City of Oz, (published in 1910), Baum provides a description of this ideal society. He conveniently doesn’t mention some of the not-so-nice characters that are encountered in the books, like the Nome King — just the nice ones. It’s a bit long, but if you haven’t read the books, I’d like you to know what a remarkable place Oz was:

 

“No disease of any sort was ever known among the Ozites, and so no one ever died unless he met with an accident that prevented him from living. This happened very seldom, indeed. There were no poor people in the Land of Oz, because there was no such thing as money, and all property of every sort belonged to the Ruler. The people were her children, and she cared for them. Each person was given freely by his neighbors whatever he required for his use, which is as much as any one may reasonably desire. Some tilled the lands and raised great crops of grain, which was divided equally among the entire population, so that all had enough. There were many tailors and dressmakers and shoemakers and the like, who made things that any who desired them might wear. Likewise there were jewelers who made ornaments for the person, which pleased and beautified the people, and these ornaments also were free to those who asked for them. Each man and woman, no matter what he or she produced for the good of the community, was supplied by the neighbors with food and clothing and a house and furniture and ornaments and games. If by chance the supply ever ran short, more was taken from the great storehouses of the Ruler, which were afterward filled up again when there was more of any article than the people needed.

  

“Every one worked half the time and played half the time, and the people enjoyed the work as much as they did the play, because it is good to be occupied and to have something to do. There were no cruel overseers set to watch them, and no one to rebuke them or to find fault with them. So each one was proud to do all he could for his friends and neighbors, and was glad when they would accept the things he produced.”

Note that if you are curious about the Oz books, you can read them online for free at Project Gutenberg. The author, L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), is in my opinion a wonderful writer, though I admit that I like the spontaneity of his earlier Oz books better than the more formulaic later ones. Beginning with the second book, the illustrations were drawn by John R. Neill (1877-1943), who provided a wonderful and imaginative visualization of the magical kingdom and its colorful characters. Baum wrote 14 Oz books in total. After his death, other authors continued the series, and Neill continued to illustrate the books.

Blog post © 2024 mae sander.

Images from the Oz Books, copyrights expired.