4. The Vegetable Kingdom

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

by L. Frank Baum

After the Wizard had wiped the dampness from his sword and taken
it apart and put the pieces into their leathern case again, the man
with the star ordered some of his people to carry the two halves of
the Sorcerer to the public gardens.

Jim pricked up his ears when he heard they were going to the
gardens, and wanted to join the party, thinking he might find
something proper to eat; so Zeb put down the top of the buggy and
invited the Wizard to ride with them. The seat was amply wide enough
for the little man and the two children, and when Jim started to
leave the hall the kitten jumped upon his back and sat there quite
contentedly.

So the procession moved through the streets, the bearers of the
Sorcerer first, the Prince next, then Jim drawing the buggy with the
strangers inside of it, and last the crowd of vegetable people who
had no hearts and could neither smile nor frown.

The glass city had several fine streets, for a good many people
lived there; but when the procession had passed through these it came
upon a broad plain covered with gardens and watered by many pretty
brooks that flowed through it. There were paths through these
gardens, and over some of the brooks were ornamental glass
bridges.

Dorothy and Zeb now got out of the buggy and walked beside the
Prince, so that they might see and examine the flowers and plants
better.

"Who built these lovely bridges?" asked the little girl.

"No one built them," answered the man with the star. "They
grow."

"That's queer," said she. "Did the glass houses in your city
grow, too?"

"Of course," he replied. "But it took a good many years for
them to grow as large and fine as they are now. That is why we are
so angry when a Rain of Stones comes to break our towers and crack
our roofs."

"Can't you mend them?" she enquired.

"No; but they will grow together again, in time, and we must
wait until they do."

They first passed through many beautiful gardens of flowers,
which grew nearest the city; but Dorothy could hardly tell what kind
of flowers they were, because the colors were constantly changing
under the shifting lights of the six suns. A flower would be pink
one second, white the next, then blue or yellow; and it was the same
way when they came to the plants, which had broad leaves and grew
close to the ground.

When they passed over a field of grass Jim immediately stretched
down his head and began to nibble.

"A nice country this is," he grumbled, "where a respectable
horse has to eat pink grass!"

"It's violet," said the Wizard, who was in the buggy.

"Now it's blue," complained the horse. "As a matter of fact,
I'm eating rainbow grass."

"How does it taste?" asked the Wizard.

"Not bad at all," said Jim. "If they give me plenty of it I'll
not complain about its color."

By this time the party had reached a freshly plowed field, and
the Prince said to Dorothy:

"This is our planting-ground."

Several Mangaboos came forward with glass spades and dug a hole
in the ground. Then they put the two halves of the Sorcerer into it
and covered him up. After that other people brought water from a
brook and sprinkled the earth.

"He will sprout very soon," said the Prince, "and grow into a
large bush, from which we shall in time be able to pick several very
good sorcerers."

"Do all your people grow on bushes?" asked the boy.

"Certainly," was the reply. "Do not all people grow upon bushes
where you came from, on the outside of the earth?"

"Not that I ever hear of."

"How strange! But if you will come with me to one of our folk
gardens I will show you the way we grow in the Land of the
Mangaboos."

It appeared that these odd people, while they were able to walk
through the air with ease, usually moved upon the ground in the
ordinary way. There were no stairs in their houses, because they did
not need them, but on a level surface they generally walked just as
we do.

The little party of strangers now followed the Prince across a
few more of the glass bridges and along several paths until they came
to a garden enclosed by a high hedge. Jim had refused to leave the
field of grass, where he was engaged in busily eating; so the Wizard
got out of the buggy and joined Zeb and Dorothy, and the kitten
followed demurely at their heels.

Inside the hedge they came upon row after row of large and
handsome plants with broad leaves gracefully curving until their
points nearly reached the ground. In the center of each plant grew a
daintily dressed Mangaboo, for the clothing of all these creatures
grew upon them and was attached to their bodies.

The growing Mangaboos were of all sizes, from the blossom that
had just turned into a wee baby to the full-grown and almost ripe man
or woman. On some of the bushes might be seen a bud, a blossom, a
baby, a half-grown person and a ripe one; but even those ready to
pluck were motionless and silent, as if devoid of life. This sight
explained to Dorothy why she had seen no children among the
Mangaboos, a thing she had until now been unable to account for.

"Our people do not acquire their real life until they leave
their bushes," said the Prince. "You will notice they are all
attached to the plants by the soles of their feet, and when they are
quite ripe they are easily separated from the stems and at once
attain the powers of motion and speech. So while they grow they
cannot be said to really live, and they must be picked before they
can become good citizens."

"How long do you live, after you are picked?" asked Dorothy.

"That depends upon the care we take of ourselves," he replied.
"If we keep cool and moist, and meet with no accidents, we often live
for five years. I've been picked over six years, but our family is
known to be especially long lived."

"Do you eat?" asked the boy.

"Eat! No, indeed. We are quite solid inside our bodies, and
have no need to eat, any more than does a potato."

"But the potatoes sometimes sprout," said Zeb.

"And sometimes we do," answered the Prince; "but that is
considered a great misfortune, for then we must be planted at
once."

"Where did you grow?" asked the Wizard.

"I will show you," was the reply. "Step this way, please."

He led them within another but smaller circle of hedge, where
grew one large and beautiful bush.

"This," said he, "is the Royal Bush of the Mangaboos. All of
our Princes and Rulers have grown upon this one bush from time
immemorial."

They stood before it in silent admiration. On the central stalk
stood poised the figure of a girl so exquisitely formed and colored
and so lovely in the expression of her delicate features that Dorothy
thought she had never seen so sweet and adorable a creature in all
her life. The maiden's gown was soft as satin and fell about her in
ample folds, while dainty lace-like traceries trimmed the bodice and
sleeves. Her flesh was fine and smooth as polished ivory, and her
poise expressed both dignity and grace.

"Who is this?" asked the Wizard, curiously.

The Prince had been staring hard at the girl on the bush. Now
he answered, with a touch of uneasiness in his cold tones:

"She is the Ruler destined to be my successor, for she is a
Royal Princess. When she becomes fully ripe I must abandon the
sovereignty of the Mangaboos to her."

"Isn't she ripe now?" asked Dorothy.

He hesitated.

"Not quite," said he, finally. "It will be several days before
she needs to be picked, or at least that is my judgment. I am in no
hurry to resign my office and be planted, you may be sure."

"Probably not," declared the Wizard, nodding.

"This is one of the most unpleasant things about our vegetable
lives," continued the Prince, with a sigh, "that while we are in our
full prime we must give way to another, and be covered up in the
ground to sprout and grow and give birth to other people."

"I'm sure the Princess is ready to be picked," asserted Dorothy,
gazing hard at the beautiful girl on the bush. "She's as perfect as
she can be."

"Never mind," answered the Prince, hastily, "she will be all
right for a few days longer, and it is best for me to rule until I
can dispose of you strangers, who have come to our land uninvited and
must be attended to at once."

"What are you going to do with us?" asked Zeb.

"That is a matter I have not quite decided upon," was the reply.
"I think I shall keep this Wizard until a new Sorcerer is ready to
pick, for he seems quite skillful and may be of use to us. But the
rest of you must be destroyed in some way, and you cannot be planted,
because I do not wish horses and cats and meat people growing all
over our country."

"You needn't worry," said Dorothy. "We wouldn't grow under
ground, I'm sure."

"But why destroy my friends?" asked the little Wizard. "Why not
let them live?"

"They do not belong here," returned the Prince. "They have no
right to be inside the earth at all."

"We didn't ask to come down here; we fell," said Dorothy.

"That is no excuse," declared the Prince, coldly.

The children looked at each other in perplexity, and the Wizard
sighed. Eureka rubbed her paw on her face and said in her soft,
purring voice:

"He won't need to destroy me, for if I don't get something to
eat pretty soon I shall starve to death, and so save him the
trouble."

"If he planted you, he might grow some cat-tails," suggested the
Wizard.

"Oh, Eureka! perhaps we can find you some milk-weeds to eat,"
said the boy.

"Phoo!" snarled the kitten; "I wouldn't touch the nasty
things!"

"You don't need milk, Eureka," remarked Dorothy; "you are big
enough now to eat any kind of food."

"If I can get it," added Eureka.

"I'm hungry myself," said Zeb. "But I noticed some strawberries
growing in one of the gardens, and some melons in another place.
These people don't eat such things, so perhaps on our way back they
will let us get them."

"Never mind your hunger," interrupted the Prince. "I shall
order you destroyed in a few minutes, so you will have no need to
ruin our pretty melon vines and berry bushes. Follow me, please, to
meet your doom."