25. How the Scarecrow Displayed His Wisdom

The Emerald City of Oz

by L. Frank Baum

This amazing news had saddened every heart and all were now
anxious to return to the Emerald City and share Ozma's fate. So they
started without loss of time, and as the road led past the
Scarecrow's new mansion they determined to make a brief halt there
and confer with him.

"The Scarecrow is probably the wisest man in all Oz," remarked
the Tin Woodman, when they had started upon their journey. "His
brains are plentiful and of excellent quality, and often he has told
me things I might never have thought of myself. I must say I rely a
great deal upon the Scarecrow's brains in this emergency."

The Tin Woodman rode on the front seat of the wagon, where
Dorothy sat between him and the Wizard.

"Has the Scarecrow heard of Ozma's trouble?" asked the Captain
General.

"I do not know, sir," was the reply.

"When I was a private," said Omby Amby, "I was an excellent
army, as I fully proved in our war against the Nomes. But now there
is not a single private left in our army, since Ozma made me the
Captain General, so there is no one to fight and defend our lovely
Ruler."

"True," said the Wizard. "The present army is composed only of
officers, and the business of an officer is to order his men to
fight. Since there are no men there can be no fighting."

"Poor Ozma!" whispered Dorothy, with tears in her sweet eyes.
"It's dreadful to think of all her lovely fairy country being
destroyed. I wonder if we couldn't manage to escape and get back to
Kansas by means of the Magic Belt? And we might take Ozma with us
and all work hard to get money for her, so she wouldn't be so very
lonely and unhappy about the loss of her fairyland."

"Do you think there would be any work for me in Kansas?" asked
the Tin Woodman.

"If you are hollow, they might use you in a canning factory,"
suggested Uncle Henry. "But I can't see the use of your working for
a living. You never eat or sleep or need a new suit of clothes."

"I was not thinking of myself," replied the Emperor, with
dignity. "I merely wondered if I could not help to support Dorothy
and Ozma."

As they indulged in these sad plans for the future they
journeyed in sight of the Scarecrow's new mansion, and even though
filled with care and worry over the impending fate of Oz, Dorothy
couldn't help a feeling of wonder at the sight she saw.

The Scarecrow's new house was shaped like an immense ear of
corn. The rows of kernels were made of solid gold, and the green
upon which the ear stood upright was a mass of sparkling emeralds.
Upon the very top of the structure was perched a figure representing
the Scarecrow himself, and upon his extended arms, as well as upon
his head, were several crows carved out of ebony and having ruby
eyes. You may imagine how big this ear of corn was when I tell you
that a single gold kernel formed a window, swinging outward upon
hinges, while a row of four kernels opened to make the front
entrance. Inside there were five stories, each story being a single
room.

The gardens around the mansion consisted of cornfields, and
Dorothy acknowledged that the place was in all respects a very
appropriate home for her good friend the Scarecrow.

"He would have been very happy here, I'm sure," she said, "if
only the Nome King had left us alone. But if Oz is destroyed of
course this place will be destroyed too."

"Yes," replied the Tin Woodman, "and also my beautiful tin
castle, that has been my joy and pride."

"Jack Pumpkinhead's house will go too," remarked the Wizard, "as
well as Professor Wogglebug's Athletic College, and Ozma's royal
palace, and all our other handsome buildings."

"Yes, Oz will indeed become a desert when the Nome King gets
through with it," sighed Omby Amby.

The Scarecrow came out to meet them and gave them all a hearty
welcome.

"I hear you have decided always to live in the Land of Oz, after
this," he said to Dorothy; "and that will delight my heart, for I
have greatly disliked our frequent partings. But why are you all so
downcast?"

"Have you heard the news?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"No news to make me sad," replied the Scarecrow.

Then Nick Chopper told his friend of the Nome King's tunnel, and
how the evil creatures of the North had allied themselves with the
underground monarch for the purpose of conquering and destroying Oz.
"Well," said the Scarecrow, "it certainly looks bad for Ozma, and all
of us. But I believe it is wrong to worry over anything before it
happens. It is surely time enough to be sad when our country is
despoiled and our people made slaves. So let us not deprive
ourselves of the few happy hours remaining to us."

"Ah! that is real wisdom," declared the Shaggy Man, approvingly.
"After we become really unhappy we shall regret these few hours that
are left to us, unless we enjoy them to the utmost."

"Nevertheless," said the Scarecrow, "I shall go with you to the
Emerald City and offer Ozma my services."

"She says we can do nothing to oppose our enemies," announced
the Tin Woodman.

"And doubtless she is right, sir," answered the Scarecrow.
"Still, she will appreciate our sympathy, and it is the duty of
Ozma's friends to stand by her side when the final disaster
occurs."

He then led them into his queer mansion and showed them the
beautiful rooms in all the five stories. The lower room was a grand
reception hall, with a hand-organ in one corner. This instrument the
Scarecrow, when alone, could turn to amuse himself, as he was very
fond of music. The walls were hung with white silk, upon which flocks
of black crows were embroidered in black diamonds. Some of the
chairs were made in the shape of big crows and upholstered with
cushions of corn-colored silk.

The second story contained a fine banquet room, where the
Scarecrow might entertain his guests, and the three stories above
that were bed-chambers exquisitely furnished and decorated.

"From these rooms," said the Scarecrow, proudly, "one may obtain
fine views of the surrounding cornfields. The corn I grow is always
husky, and I call the ears my regiments, because they have so many
kernels. Of course I cannot ride my cobs, but I really don't care
shucks about that. Taken altogether, my farm will stack up with any
in the neighborhood."

The visitors partook of some light refreshment and then hurried
away to resume the road to the Emerald City. The Scarecrow found a
seat in the wagon between Omby Amby and the Shaggy Man, and his
weight did not add much to the load because he was stuffed with
straw.

"You will notice I have one oat-field on my property," he
remarked, as they drove away. "Oat-straw is, I have found, the best
of all straws to re-stuff myself with when my interior gets musty or
out of shape."

"Are you able to re-stuff yourself without help?" asked Aunt Em.
"I should think that after the straw was taken out of you there
wouldn't be anything left but your clothes."

"You are almost correct, madam," he answered. "My servants do
the stuffing, under my direction. For my head, in which are my
excellent brains, is a bag tied at the bottom. My face is neatly
painted upon one side of the bag, as you may see. My head does not
need re-stuffing, as my body does, for all that it requires is to
have the face touched up with fresh paint occasionally."

It was not far from the Scarecrow's mansion to the farm of Jack
Pumpkinhead, and when they arrived there both Uncle Henry and Aunt Em
were much impressed. The farm was one vast pumpkin field, and some
of the pumpkins were of enormous size. In one of them, which had
been neatly hollowed out, Jack himself lived, and he declared that it
was a very comfortable residence. The reason he grew so many
pumpkins was in order that he might change his head as often as it
became wrinkled or threatened to spoil.

The pumpkin-headed man welcomed his visitors joyfully and
offered them several delicious pumpkin pies to eat.

"I don't indulge in pumpkin pies myself, for two reasons," he
said. "One reason is that were I to eat pumpkins I would become a
cannibal, and the other reason is that I never eat, not being hollow
inside."

"Very good reasons," agreed the Scarecrow.

They told Jack Pumpkinhead of the dreadful news about the Nome
King, and he decided to go with them to the Emerald City and help
comfort Ozma.

"I had expected to live here in ease and comfort for many
centuries," said Jack, dolefully; "but of course if the Nome King
destroys everything in Oz I shall be destroyed too. Really, it seems
too bad, doesn't it?"

They were soon on their journey again, and so swiftly did the
Sawhorse draw the wagon over the smooth roads that before twilight
fell they had reached the royal palace in the Emerald City, and were
at their journey's end.