Ozma was studying a roll of
manuscript which she had taken from the Royal Library,
while Dorothy worked at her embroidery and at times
stooped to pat a shaggy little black dog that lay at
her feet. The little dog's name was Toto, and he was
Dorothy's faithful companion.
To judge Ozma of Oz by the standards of our world,
you would think her very young -- perhaps fourteen or
fifteen years of age -- yet for years she had ruled the
Land of Oz and had never seemed a bit older. Dorothy
appeared much younger than Ozma. She had been a little
girl when first she came to the Land of Oz, and she was
a little girl still, and would never seem to be a day
older while she lived in this wonderful fairyland.
Oz was not always a fairyland, I am told. Once it was
much like other lands, except it was shut in by a
dreadful desert of sandy wastes that lay all around it,
thus preventing its people from all contact with the
rest of the world. Seeing this isolation, the fairy
band of Queen Lurline, passing over Oz while on a
journey, enchanted the country and so made it a
Fairyland. And Queen Lurline left one of her fairies to
rule this enchanted Land of Oz, and then passed on and
forgot all about it.
From that moment no one in Oz ever died. Those who
were old remained old; those who were young and strong
did not change as years passed them by; the children
remained children always, and played and romped to
their hearts' content, while all the babies lived in
their cradles and were tenderly cared for and never
grew up.
Pages:
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104