"No," said Woot. "Is Jinjur a man, a woman, a beast
or a bird?"
"Jinjur is a girl," explained the Scarecrow Bear.
"She's a fine girl, too, although a bit restless and
liable to get excited. Once, a long time ago, she
raised an army of girls and called herself 'General
Jinjur.' With her army she captured the Emerald City,
and drove me out of it, because I insisted that an army
in Oz was highly improper. But Ozma punished the rash
girl, and afterward Jinjur and I became fast friends.
Now Jinjur lives peacefully on a farm, near here, and
raises fields of cream-puffs, chocolate-caramels and
macaroons. They say she's a pretty good farmer, and in
addition to that she's an artist, and paints pictures
so perfect that one can scarcely tell them from nature.
She often repaints my face for me, when it gets worn or
mussy, and the lovely expression I wore when the
Giantess transformed me was painted by Jinjur only a
month or so ago."
"It was certainly a pleasant expression," agreed
Woot.
"Jinjur can paint anything," continued the Scarecrow
Bear, with enthusiasm, as they walked along together.
"Once, when I came to her house, my straw was old and
crumpled, so that my body sagged dreadfully. I needed
new straw to replace the old, but Jinjur had no straw
on all her ranch and I was really unable to travel
farther until I had been restuffed. When I explained
this to Jinjur, the girl at once painted a straw-stack
which was so natural that I went to it and secured
enough straw to fill all my body.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92