Chapter-12
While the Tinman was making a ladder from wood which he found in the forest, Dorothy lay down and slept. She was very tired from the long walk. The lion also curled up to sleep and Toto lay beside him.
The Scarecrow watched the Tinman while he worked and said to him, “I cannot figure out why this wall is here or what it is made of.”
“Rest your brains and do not worry about the wall,” answered the Tinman, “When we have climbed over it, we will know what is on the other side.”
After a while, the ladder was finished. It looked clumsy, but the Tinman was sure it was strong and would serve the purpose of getting them over the china wall. The Scarecrow woke Dorothy, Toto and the lion. He told them that the ladder was ready. The Scarecrow climbed up the ladder first, but he was so awkward that Dorothy had to follow close behind to keep him from falling off. When he got his head over the top of the wall and could see, he said, “Oh, my!”
“Go on,” shouted Dorothy.
So the Scarecrow climbed further up and sat down on the top of the wall, and Dorothy looked over and cried, “Oh, my!” just like the Scarecrow had done.
Then Toto came up and immediately began to bark, but Dorothy told him to be quiet.
The lion climbed the ladder next, and then the Tinman. Both of them said, “Oh my!” as soon as they looked over the wall. When they were all sitting in a row on the top of the wall, they looked down and saw a very strange sight.
Before them was a great stretch of land. The floor of the land was as smooth and shining and white as the bottom of a big plate. Scattered around were many houses made entirely of china and painted in bright colours. These houses were very small. The biggest one reached only as high as Dorothy’s waist. There were also tiny barns painted red with china fences around them. There were cows, sheep, horses and pigs, all made of china.
But the strangest of all were the people who lived in this unusual country. There were milkmaids and shepherdesses, who wore red and yellow blouses and skirts with golden spots. There were princesses with beautiful dresses of silver, gold and purple. The shepherds were dressed in short pants with pink, yellow and blue stripes on them. Their shoes had golden buckles. There were princes with jewelled crowns and ermine robes. There were also clowns in ruffled gowns with round red spots on their cheeks and tall, pointed caps. But the strangest thing of all was that all these people were made of china. And they were so small that the tallest one was no higher than Dorothy’s knee.
At first, none of the little people even looked at the travellers. One little purple china dog with an extra-large head came to the wall and barked at them.
“How can we get down the other side of this wall?” asked Dorothy.
The ladder was so heavy they that couldn’t pull it up, so the Scarecrow fell off the wall. Then the others jumped down on him so the hard floor would not hurt their feet. They were very careful not to land on his head and get the pins stuck in their feet. When they were all safely down, they picked up the Scarecrow and patted his straw back into shape.
“We must cross this strange place in order to get to the other side,” said Dorothy, “for we really must continue going South.”
They began walking through the country of the china people, and the first thing they came to was a china milkmaid milking a china cow. As they came near, the cow gave a kick and over went the stool, the pail and even the milkmaid herself. Everything fell on the china ground with a great clatter.
Dorothy was shocked to see that the cow had broken its leg off, and that the pail was lying in several small pieces. Even the milkmaid had a nick in her left elbow.
“See what you have done!” cried the milkmaid angrily, “My cow has broken her leg, and I must take her to the mender’s shop and have it glued on again. What do you mean coming here and frightening my cow?”
“I am really very sorry,” said Dorothy, “Please forgive us.”
But the milkmaid was too angry to answer. She picked up the leg and led the cow away. The poor animal limped on three legs.
Dorothy felt very bad about what had happened.
“We must be very careful here,” said the kind-hearted Tinman, “or we may hurt these little people, so they will never get over it.”
A little further on Dorothy met a beautifully dressed Princess. The Princess stopped short when she saw the strangers, and she started to run away.
Dorothy wanted to see more of the Princess, so she ran after her, but the china girl cried out, “Don’t chase me! Don’t chase me!”
She had such a frightened voice that Dorothy stopped and asked, “Why not?”
“Because,” answered the Princess, “if I run, I may fall down and break myself.”
“But you could be mended, couldn’t you?” asked Dorothy.
“Oh, yes; but one is never as pretty after being mended, you know,” answered the Princess.
“I suppose not,” said Dorothy.
“Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns,” continued the china woman, “who is always trying to stand on his head. He has broken himself so many times that he is mended in a hundred places and doesn’t look at all pretty. Here he comes now, so you can see for yourself.”
Indeed, a jolly little clown came walking by and Dorothy could see that in spite of his pretty clothes of red, yellow and green, he was completely covered with cracks. It was clear that he had been mended in many places.
Dorothy felt sad for the poor little clown. Then she turned to the beautiful Princess and said, “You are so lovely; I am sure that I could love you dearly. I am going back to Kansas. Won’t you let me carry you back in my basket, so when I get back home I can stand you on Aunt Em’s mantelshelf?”
“That would make me very unhappy,” answered the china Princess, “You see here in our own country we live happily and can talk and move around as we please. But whenever any of us is taken away, our joints at once stiffen, and we can stand straight and look pretty. Of course, that is all that is expected of us when we are on mantelshelves and cabinet and living room tables. Our lives are much more fun here in our own country.”
“I understand,” said Dorothy, “and I would not want to make you unhappy for anything in the world, so I will just say goodbye.”
“Goodbye,” answered the Princess.
They walked carefully through the china country. Little animals and people scampered out of their way, afraid they would be broken.
Soon they reached the other side of the country and came to another china wall. It was not as high so the first one, and by standing on the lion’s back they all managed to scramble to the top. Then the lion gathered his legs under him and jumped the wall. Just as he did this, he upset a china house with his tail and smashed it to pieces.
“That was too bad,” said Dorothy, “but I think we were lucky that we did these people so little harm. They are all so delicate.”
“They certainly are,” said the Scarecrow, “and I am thankful I am made of straw and cannot be hurt so easily. There are worse things in the world than being a Scarecrow.”
“They are so afraid of outsiders,” said the Tinman, “They must have been treated badly by those who did not understand them.”
Dorothy nodded her head in agreement as she took her last look at the china wall.
Before them lay a gloomy forest.
