Ozma offered to take them all in the Red Wagon to a
place as near to the great Munchkin forest as a wagon
could get. The Red Wagon was big enough to seat them
all, and so, bidding good-bye to Jinjur, who gave Woot
a basket of ripe cream-puffs and caramels to take with
him, Ozma commanded the Wooden Sawhorse to start, and
the strange creature moved swiftly over the lanes and
presently came to the Road of Yellow Bricks. This road
led straight to a dense forest, where the path was too
narrow for the Red Wagon to proceed farther, so here
the party separated.
Ozma and Dorothy and Toto returned to the Emerald
City, after wishing their friends a safe and successful
journey, while the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, Woot the
Wanderer and Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter,
prepared to push their way through the thick forest.
However, these forest paths were well known to the Tin
Man and the Scarecrow, who felt quite at home among the
trees.
"I was born in this grand forest," said Nick Chopper,
the tin Emperor, speaking proudly, "and it was here
that the Witch enchanted my axe and I lost different
parts of my meat body until I became all tin. Here,
also -- for it is a big forest -- Nimmie Amee lived
with the Wicked Witch, and at the other edge of the
trees stands the cottage of my friend Ku-Klip, the
famous tinsmith who made my present beautiful form."
"He must be a clever workman," declared Woot,
admiringly.
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