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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Chapter 23. Glinda The Good Witch Grants Dorothy's Wish
Before they went to see Glinda, however, someone took them to a room in the Castle.
Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair.
The Lion shook the dust out of his hair.
The Scarecrow fixed his straw to look his best.
The Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
When ready, they followed the soldier girl into a room where the Witch Glinda sat on a red stone seat.
She was both beautiful and young to their eyes.
Her hair was deep red and fell in soft curls over her shoulders.
Her dress was white and her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly at the little girl.
"What can I do for you, my child?" she asked.
Dorothy told the Witch all her story.
She told how the cyclone had brought her to the Land of Oz.
She told how she had found her companions and their wonderful adventures.
"My greatest wish now,"
She added, "is to get back to Kansas."
"Aunt Em will surely think something very bad has happened to me."
"That will make her wear black clothes, and Uncle Henry cannot pay for it unless crops are better".
Glinda leaned forward and kissed the sweet face of the loving little girl.
"Bless your kind heart,"
She said, "I can tell you how to get back to Kansas."
"Then she added, "But if I do, you must give me the Golden Cap.
"Willingly!" said Dorothy, "indeed, it's of no use to me now, and when you have it you can command the Winged Monkeys three times."
"And I think I'll need their help just those three times," said Glinda, smiling.
Dorothy then gave her the Golden Cap, and the Witch asked the Scarecrow, "What will you do when Dorothy has left us?"
"I'll return to the Emerald City,"
He replied, "For Oz has made me its ruler and the people like me."
"He said, "The only thing I worry about is how to cross the hill of the Hammer-Heads.
"By the Golden Cap I'll tell the Winged Monkeys to carry you to the gates of the Emerald City," said Glinda.
"For it would be wrong to take away from the people so wonderful a ruler."
"Am I really wonderful?" asked the Scarecrow.
"You're unusual," said Glinda.
Turning to the Tin Woodman, she asked, "What will happen to you when Dorothy leaves this country?"
He leaned on his axe and thought a moment.
Then he said, "The Winkies were very kind to me, and wanted me to rule over them after the Wicked Witch died."
"I'm fond of the Winkies, and if I could get back to the Country of the West, I'd like nothing better than to rule over them forever."
"My second order to the Winged Monkeys," said Glinda.
"Will be that they carry you safely to the land of the Winkies."
Your brain does not look as big as the Scarecrow's, but you're brighter when clean and shiny, and you'll rule the Winkies well.
Then the Witch looked at the big shaggy Lion and asked, "When Dorothy has returned to her own home, what will happen to you?"
"Over the hill of the Hammer-Heads,"
He answered, "lies a grand old forest, and all the beasts that live there have made me their King."
"If I could only get back to this forest, I'd live my life very happily there".
"My third order to the Winged Monkeys," said Glinda.
"Will be to carry you to your forest."
"Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I'll give it to the King of the Monkeys,"
"So he and his band may be free forever after."
The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion now thanked the Good Witch earnestly for her kindness, and Dorothy cried out,
"You're certainly as good as you're beautiful! But you haven't yet told me how to get back to Kansas."
"Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert," said Glinda.
"If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country."
"But then I wouldn't have had my wonderful brains!" cried the Scarecrow.
"I might have spent my whole life in the farmer's cornfield."
"And I wouldn't have had my lovely heart," said the Tin Woodman.
"I might have stood and rusted in the forest till the end of the world."
"And I'd have been a coward forever," said the Lion.
"And no beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say about me."
"This is all true," said Dorothy.
"And I'm glad I was of use to these good friends."
"But now that each of them has had what he wanted most," said Dorothy.
"Each is happy and has a kingdom to rule, so I think I'd like to go back to Kansas," she added.
"The Silver Shoes," said the Good Witch.
"Have wonderful powers."
"One curious thing about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps."
"Each step will be done in the blink of an eye."
"All you have to do is tap the heels together three times and tell the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go."
"If that's so," said the child joyfully, "I'll ask them to take me back to Kansas at once."
She threw her arms around the Lion's neck and kissed him, patting his big head gently.
Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints.
But she hugged the soft stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face.
And she found she was crying herself at this sad parting from her loving friends.
Glinda the Good stepped down from her red stone throne to give the little girl a good-bye kiss.
Dorothy thanked her for all the kindness she had shown to her friends and to herself.
Dorothy took Toto into her arms, said one last good-bye, and tapped her heels together three times, saying,
"Take me home to Aunt Em!"
Instantly she was spinning through the air, so fast that all she could feel was the wind whistling past her ears.
The Silver Shoes took three steps, and she stopped suddenly, rolling on the grass before she knew where she was.
At length, however, she sat up and looked about her.
"Good gracious!" she cried.
She sat on the broad Kansas prairie.
Just before her was the new farmhouse Uncle Henry built after the storm carried away the old one.
Uncle Henry milked the cows in the barnyard, and Toto jumped from her arms and ran to the barn, barking.
Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking feet.
For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.
Aunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.
"My darling child!" she cried, folding the little girl in her arms and covering her face with kisses.
"Where in the world did you come from?"
"From the Land of Oz," said Dorothy seriously.
"And here's Toto, too. And oh, Aunt Em! I'm so glad to be at home again!"