The Wizard of Oz
By L. Frank Baum and Michael Hague
4/5
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About this ebook
Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title—offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.
This edition of The Wizard of Oz includes a Foreword, Biographical Note, and Afterword by Jane Yolen.
In a terrifying instant of darkness, a tornado snatches up Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto, whirling them on the wild wind out of Kansas and straight to Oz.
In this wondrous world of sorcery and danger, Munchkins, flying monkeys, talking mice and fighting trees, all Dorothy wants to do is go home...
Together with the Scarecrow who wants a brain, the Tin Man who wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion who wants courage, Dorothy and Toto must follow the Yellow Brick Road to find the Wizard of the Emerald City. But before the wizard of Oz will grant their wishes, Dorothy and her friends must do the impossible--Destroy the all-powerful Wicked Witch of the West....
L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 and received enormous, immediate success. Baum went on to write seventeen additional novels in the Oz series. Today, he is considered the father of the American fairy tale. His stories inspired the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz, one of the most widely viewed movies of all time. MinaLima is an award-winning graphic design studio founded by Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, renowned for establishing the visual graphic style of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film series. Specializing in graphic design and illustration, Miraphora and Eduardo have continued their involvement in the Harry Potter franchise through numerous design commissions, from creating all the graphic elements for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando Resort, to designing award-winning publications for the brand. Their best-selling books include Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone, Harry Potter Film Wizardry, The Case of Beasts: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Archive of Magic: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts screenplays. MinaLima studio is renowned internationally for telling stories through design and has created its own MinaLima Classics series, reimagining a growing collection of much-loved tales including Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, and Pinocchio.
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Reviews for The Wizard of Oz
3,793 ratings185 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great book for the young and old alike. If you're familiar with the movie or with Wicked... throw everything you know away and immerse yourself fully in this wondrous piece of art. Dorothy is a determined, plucky girl, the Wicked Witch is very much a child herself, and the Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman are as humourous and heartfelt as you always thought them to be. I highly recommend this book to every little girl looking for some adventure and humour, and every little boy wanting the same!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's REEEALLLY good. The kind of books I love to read :D It's ''childish'', but not written as though we were children of 5 to understand it. :D
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A rather wonderful story! There were definitely some differences from the movie, which I found interesting, and I listened to the audiobook, which was a very nice interpretation/performance. I don't feel the political aspects were very pronounced, I'll have to read more analysis of that to understand it better, I suppose.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book is definitely different from the movie. The tale is directed towards youngsters with the use of repeating things and simplified wordings. There is a bit too much violence for a children's book, though. There is a scene where the scarecrow kills crows by snapping their necks.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I just finished reading this book to my son, who is almost six. He really liked it, which sort of surprised me as it was more challenging for him to stay with than all the picture books and easy readers we usually share. I am very glad that my edition had all the old pictures in it so that it still had a little picture book flavor. That made the transition to more advanced reading easier.
The one thing I will note: As with the Beatrix Potter stories I also read in my childhood, I was a little surprised at the level of violence in this book. I guess it is just a reminder of how times have changed. But if you are at all worried about creatures of various sorts meeting a rather gruesome demise, I would sit this book out. But I truly believe you would be missing out on a really wonderful story.
Keep in mind as well that there are some MAJOR differences from the MGM movie -- the ruby slippers are silver, and Glinda is not the same Good Witch as the one at the beginning of the novel. (Spoiler: This change is what makes the movie Glinda seem so awful if you really think about it. She knew the whole time about the slippers and she never said anything?? Not cool.) - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First of all this is the ugliest book cover ever.Wizard of Oz was my all time favorite movie as a child. I once left a movie at the theater to get home in time to see the movie, even though I had seen it at least six times. This was one of the first movies I bought my children. I don't know why I never read the book as a child or why I waited so long to read the book. I really enjoyed it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wonderful tale.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5wonderful, wonderful, wonderful...!!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A must read if you're into the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire. And, the paperback I got from amazon.com has all the original illustrations, which are wonderful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The charming writing style of Baum reminds me of listening to stories made up at bedtime or around the camp fire. The descriptions of places and the actions of the characters are just enough to keep the plot flowing, but are not so heavy that they drag down the motion either. Baum has a way of describing something so that your mind knows exactly what the thing looks like without having to give a lot of time that would take away from the action.Each character shares the same adventure, but along the way has smaller personal adventures that prove that what they seek is really what they have all along. The reader knows this, but the characters never really do, which is also an interesting idea. This classic stays in the hearts and minds of young children all the way through their adulthood and is always worth reading over and over as we grow up, just to prove that in our hearts we can still be young again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I can't believe that after all this time of watching the movies and reading the books derived from the original story, I've never read the original! The Wizard of Oz is a cute, fun kid's adventure story that I could see young children absolutely loving. It is a bit simplistic in terms of writing and storytelling, but the message is timeless, and that counts for something. Careful parents -- this is the kind of story children ask to read over and over and over again.And I would just like to say that I really like the message of this novel. I think it's gotten lost within the numerous retellings over the years, but I thought it was really heartwarming and a good thing for kids to hear. I do wish the witch were a bit more evil and scary, though. She seemed more of a side character than anything, which was strange, again, after seeing/reading all the adaptations.As for the narration, it was good -- good pacing, intonation, etc. Fields makes sure to give everyone distinctive voices and does a good job at that. However, it contains nothing spectacular that would make me recommend it over the print version. I think reading either version is fine, it would just depend on your preference. I do, however, recommend reading it. It is slightly dated and I think adults would like it for its cultural history, not necessarily because of its inherent entertainment value (Although I'm still reeling over the whole silver slippers instead of ruby slippers thing. So weird!). But I'm sure that kids will love it!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It's odd that this is the first time I've read an Oz book. I think I started one or two, long ago, and never finished them. But many people rave about Oz, and I love old books from that era (especially children's books), so recently I picked it up and read it through.
It didn't take long. In fact, I was quite surprised at how quickly I got through it. It's quite a short book. It's also very simply written. I don't think most young American children (say, ages 7 and up) would have any difficulty reading it at all. The grammar is slightly more formal than modern American English, but the vocabulary is startlingly ordinary; far less challenging than I'd expected.
Perhaps that's because most of the books I've read from that general era (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900) are English, and use a considerably deeper vocabulary. The majority of Americans would struggle with an unabridged Peter Pan or Winnie-the-Pooh, and be utterly defeated by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
That said, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a nice, light, and very quick read with some pleasantly funny moments. I'd heard that it was an extended political parable - the scarecrow representing Midwestern farmers, the Tin Woodsman representing the factory workers of the new Industrial Revolution, and the Lion representing...actually, I don't remember - but if that's the case (and it may well be) the result certainly doesn't seem to very complex. I probably won't read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for myself again very soon, but I'll probably soon read it to my son - or see if he's interested in reading it for himself.
I can't help but wonder if I'd have loved the book if I had first read it when I was seven. But I just don't know.
Oh, I almost forgot: Of course I've seen the movie many times, and am quite fond of it. I expected the book to be very different from the movie, and it was - but it turned out that the movie was more faithful to the text than I'd realized. That said, I have to say that the movie actually seemed to make a strong theme (there's no place like home, of course) which the book lacked. But then, Dorothy seemed much younger in the book.
It was also interesting that in the book, the voyage to Oz was clearly NOT a dream (Uncle Henry had had to build a new house to replace the one that had been taken away by the tornado), whereas the movie made it fairly clear that Oz HAD all been Dorothy's fever-dream (since, among other things, the house was unchanged and still there). - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5By now everybody knows - or should know, the tale about Dorothy and Toto. No matter what you believe, which theory is behind this (hi)story, there's just as many reasons to read or reread a series as Oz. Mine was nothing more than this beautiful clothbound classic! Isn't it pretty?!?!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Book way better than movie. As an adult reader I did find it a bit twee and predictable but it is a children's story and should be enjoyed as such
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The most beautiful of this novel so far. Illustrations to die for.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Well finally read it and while it's not really a great piece of ligature it is truly a fun story that all kids should read once they are at an age where they can handle heads being chopped off.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a classic I never got around to reading as a child. I skipped over children's books to comics and adult classics like "War and Peace." Now, as an adult, I find the tale enjoyable and gratifying to read, with little editorial comments sprinkled throughout. My favorite:
"'For,' they said 'there is not another city in all the world that is ruled by a stuffed man.' And, so far as they knew, they were quite right." - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No matter what age you are, The Wizard of Oz never gets old. If you have watched the movie, ( and who hasn't), you will no doubt experience great surprise at how very different the book is. All the same, despite all the commentary, I really believe this is just a great fantasy for children, with no real great hidden messages. It's just a great deal of fun. The book ( and the other books in the series) and the movie should be re-visited from time to time. I think it's good for us, not matter what age you are.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Kindle edition of the classic children's book where Dorothy is carried by a tornado to the land of Oz is a pleasant read, very reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's Alice books. It is lavishly illustrated throughout, though the name of the illustrator on the cover differs from that on the title page (this may explain why Dorothy looks a bit different in some pictures - never like Judy Garland, though!). A nice, lighter read. 4/5
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the first chapter book I managed to read all the way through to my son. I don't think I had ever sat down and read it myself before. This is a good book for reading aloud to very young children, because the characters are very simple, and their goals are crystal clear and reinforced through constant repetition. Scarecrow wants a brain, Tin Woodman wants a heart, Cowardly Lion wants courage, Dorothy wants to go home to Kansas. It was no problem for my 4-year-old to follow the story or to be excited by the simple adventures the characters have. I was surprised that there were quite a few sly jokes thrown in as well, which go right over the head of a young reader but are amusing for adults. My son hasn't seen the movie, so he had no preconceptions, which helps since the book differs in many ways from the film. We also both enjoyed the whimsical illustrations in the Puffin Classics edition. I hope to find other children's books we can enjoy together, and I intend to mine the classics for them.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really loved this book. It's a classic. Although, at times, I felt the movie was probably a bit better, but still a must-read. I thought the book was much more childlike than the movie and was much more in the perspective of a child.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enjoyed it very much. Loved that the slippers weren't really ruby.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Such a quaint tale about the wonders of the placebo effect.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You know the story, a little girl wishing that she could make it over the rainbow to escape the gray tinged life she leads at present only to be confronted with the fact that life may appear greener on the other side but "there's no place like home" after all is said and done. The best thing I can say for those that have only seen the movie is you can keep the images of the primary characters if you wish...but that's about it. The land of the Munchkins is far less munchkin-ny and Glinda sparkles WAY less than her supposed taffeta gown though she is still in fact a powerful and very good witch. The infamous shoes are NOT red, the flying monkeys don't actually work for the Wicked Witch on a full time basis, in fact...the Wicked Witch herself plays a very small role in comparison to her betrayal in the movie though Dorothy's journey is still fraught with dangers at every turn. Even the characters themselves are presented in different shades of their personalities.Quite the contrast but DEFINITELY worth the journey down the road of yellow bricks to discover all there is to see. What makes this edition stand out from the rest? The illustrations and the hardbound packaging. It's not your typical lush images that we've come to expect from this story. They are a bit more bleak, a bit more drab and yet they work well with all they depict. From Dorothy's sunny face which is given an extra hint of color in an otherwise fairly monotone landscape to Toto's adorable little self with spunky attitude to spare, from the uncovering of the grand humbug to the reality of the poppy field not the fantasy and all the way to the melting of the witch herself, it's a happy marriage between story and image.In conclusion, a worthy read indeed for the seasoned Oz visitor as well as those just journeying past the colors that arc across the sky. It makes sharing the story with a new generation a grand adventure once again not only in text but also in visual aids.**review copy was received in exchange for my honest review - full post can be viewed on my site**
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Easily read nice book. Even if you've seen the movie there are still surprises, which is nice./SysterSara
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is one of those reviews I feel ridiculous writing because who doesn't know the story of The Wizard of Oz? Dorothy is a child living in a one-room house in Kansas with her aunt, uncle and dog. A tornado rips through the plains but before Dorothy and her little dog can make it to the hole in the floor the tiny house is swooped up in the tornado's vortex and they are whisked off to a fantasy land. Upon landing they inadvertently kill a wicked witch (of the East). The townspeople munchkins are overjoyed but all Dorothy wants to do is go home. So, the munchkins give her the witch's shoes and send her along a yellow brick road. At the end of the road is a wizard who supposedly can help her get back to Kansas. Along her journey she meets some oddball characters (a tin woodsman, a cowardly lion, and a brainless scarecrow). Unbeknownst to them, they are being watched on their journey. The deceased witch's sister (Wicked Witch of the West) wants the shoes given to Dorothy. To read The Wizard of Oz as an adult is 100% entertainment. I had fun taking note of how many times the brains-needing Scarecrow did something exceedingly smart or the Cowardly Lion acted inherently brave or the no-heart Tin Man felt true compassion. Other amusements: the group discussing heart disease.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why have I never read this book before?! Okay, I'll tell you why I've never read this book before - I HATE the movie. There, I said it. Get the lashings over with now, because I doubt I'll be changing my mind any time soon. The music! The stupid man in a lion costume! The wrong-coloured shoes! No no no. So, as you might imagine, it was a very pleasant surprise when I found myself, twenty pages into the book, sitting with a gentle smile on my face thinking, "Yeah, just one more chapter before I go do something useful." This is actually a really lovely little book! It is charming and whimsical and full of polite conversation and intriguing creatures, just as a children's classic should be. As Dorothy and her friends wend their merry way towards self-knowledge and magical wish fulfillment, they meet with all kinds of nice people, bizarre monsters and tricky situations, but you know that everything's going to be okay in the end because Baum said so. That said, it's not all sunshine and roses in the Land of Oz, oh no... What Baum omits by way of serious peril for his leading characters, he makes up for with the macabre ends he concocts for the naughty beasts that threaten them. Yes, the Wicked Witch of the West is destroyed with a humble bucket of water (if that's a spoiler... well, if you don't know it now you never will) - but everything else is thrown off a cliff, has its neck broken, is beheaded or chopped in half by the Tin Man's axe. All the kinds of deaths that make me shudder and put down my lunch for a moment. But then everybody skips on and is very jolly to have survived another menace, so that's okay.Needless to say, the book was a wonderful little read, despite the fact that I had "We're off to see the wizard" stuck in my head THE WHOLE TIME. Baum's imaginary world was a delight to explore, twisting old fairytale cliches into something new and unique (like the mischievous Winged Monkeys and their three wishes taking the place of the traditional genie, for example), and Dorothy's well-mannered sweetness was like a soothing balm for my summer-holiday-brat-frazzled nerves. My edition is a smart little 'Great Reads' hardback, with cute cartoony line drawings that don't look AT ALL like the movie characters (much to their credit), which I found really rounded off the reading experience. Roll on book 2 - I think I'm hooked!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is one of those extraordinarly intelligent children's books, which I suppose is why it turned into a classic. That and the fact that it's brilliant and enjoyable as well, of course.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by Baum was reinterpreted through film by MGM studios, as many of you know. The film and the book contrast on certain aspects, such as Dorthy's silver shoes. In the film the shoes are ruby (MGM's colorful alteration). Nevertheless, the idea, the characters, and the adventures are basically the same in both text and movie. Dorthy gets dropped in the Land of Oz after a cyclone picks up her house in Kansas. Throughout the story, she meets the Tin Woodman, The Scarecrow, and the Lion who all accompany her on her adventure to get back to Kansas. Dorthy (unknowingly) posses the power to take her home in her silver shoes the entire time. Unlike Carroll's Wonderland, where we find out that Alice had been dreaming the entire time, in the Wizard of Oz, Baum insists that The Land of Oz is in fact a real place. At the end of the story, Dorthy returns to Kansas by clicking her heels and she sees the new shed that Uncle Henry has built while she was away (the cyclone had destroyed the old shed). Things of this nature happened in real time with Dorthy's disappearance, suggesting that Oz was in fact a real place and Dorthy was not dreaming. However, in the famous MGM film, Dorthy was dreaming after she fainted.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a case of the movie being better than the book. Or, at least, the movie being better than this one book. I think once I read more, I'll get a better sense of the whole project, but with this one book, the story pacing is better in the movie. Not to give things away, but the ending of the movie comes about 3/4 way into the book, and then it's just less exciting. But I'm glad I finally read it!
Book preview
The Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
Table of Contents
Title Page
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter I - The Cyclone
Chapter II - The Council with the Munchkins
Chapter III - How Dorothy Saved the Scarecrow
Chapter IV - The Road Through the Forest
Chapter V - The Rescue of the Tin Woodman
Chapter VI - The Cowardly Lion
Chapter VII - The Journey to the Great Oz
Chapter VIII - The Deadly Poppy Field
Chapter IX - The Queen of the Field Mice
Chapter X - The Guardian of the Gates
Chapter XI - The Wonderful Emerald City of Oz
Chapter XII - The Search for the Wicked Witch
Chapter XIII - How the Four Were Reunited
Chapter XIV - The Winged Monkeys
Chapter XV - The Discovery of Oz the Terrible
Chapter XVI - The Magic Art of the Great Humbug
Chapter XVII - How the Balloon Was Launched
Chapter XVIII - Away to the South
Chapter XIX - Attacked by the Fighting Trees
Chapter XX - The Dainty China Country
Chapter XXI - The Lion Becomes the King of Beasts
Chapter XXII - The Country of the Quadlings
Chapter XXIII - The Good Witch Grants Dorothy’s Wish
Chapter XXIV - Home Again
The Life of L. Frank Baum
Afterword
Copyright Page
This book is dedicated to my good friend & comrade.
My Wife
L. F. B.
Foreword
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a fairy tale, a peculiarly American fairy tale. L. Frank Baum conscientiously set out to write it that way. So the story begins in that most American of places, a hardscrabble farm in the middle of a bleak, tornado-ridden Kansas prairie and proceeds to what can only be a California wonderland.
Dorothy Gale is a tourist in faerie, but like many American tourists of the time, she is homesick amid foreign beauty. All the wonders of Oz, the lushness of the land, the brilliance of the Emerald City, all combine to make her want to go home.
No matter how dreary and gray our homes are,
Dorothy explains patiently to the Scarecrow, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country.
But in fact Oz is a lovely, magical place where the readers—if not Dorothy Gale—want to live. It is, in Selma G. Lands’s words, a child’s version of the American utopia.
(Down the Rabbit Hole: Adventures and Misadventures in the Realm of Children’s Literature). There the fields are ever green, disease is unknown, the Ozites are always happy and prosperous. It is also a world in which mechanical ingenuity—like the mechanisms of the humbug wizard—are quite as wonderful as the magic. If there is the occasional wicked witch, the passing winged monkey, the infrequent deadly spell, the land itself is an abundant resource, made greener still by the green-colored glasses everyone is legally bound to wear.
Baum wrote that " … The Wonderful Wizard of Oz … aspires to be a modernized fairy tale in which wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares left out." Yet he peopled his world with such terrors that millions of young readers have had bad dreams, for in fact a story needs the tension that a boogie man (or wicked witch) provides, and Baum was a sensible enough writer to realize that, his introduction to the novel notwithstanding.
Baum’s fairy tale is about a land where love is returned and dreams can come true—if you are willing to work hard at them. It is an extension of the old fairy tale moral structure where the hero has to do what he is told to do and in the correct ritual order, to win the prize. Baum’s take on it is a nineteenth century American Midwestern view. He was living in Chicago at the time he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the late Victorian attitude toward hard work certainly informed his tale. He was a gentle moralist and the Oz adventures were all full of the kind of moral instruction that books for children were then prone to. But Baum’s morals were couched in such adventure and magic that the moral pills were relatively easy to swallow.
Each new Oz book sported an introduction in which Baum declared it to be the last.
But except for a couple of years when he managed to hold out against the lure of public appeal, L. Frank Baum wrote Oz books for the last nineteen years of his life. All in all he published fourteen of them and the creation of the land of Oz was to be his most remarkable and memorable contribution to the literature of childhood.
—Jane Yolen
Introduction
Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.
Yet the old-time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as historical
in the children’s library; for the time has come for a series of newer wonder tales
in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder-tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incidents.
Having this thought in mind, the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
was written solely to pleasure children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out.
L. FRANK BAUM
CHICAGO, APRIL, 1990.
Chapter I
The Cyclone
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cooking stove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar—except a small hole, dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap-door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.
When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.
When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled, now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child’s laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy’s merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.
Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.
It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long, silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.
To-day, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the door-step and looked anxiously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.
From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction also.
Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.
There’s a cyclone coming, Em,
he called to his wife; I’ll go look after the stock.
Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept.
Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her of the danger close at hand.
Quick, Dorothy!
she screamed; run for the cellar!
Toto jumped out of Dorothy’s arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw open the trap-door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last, and started to follow her aunt. When she was half way across the room there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor.
A strange thing then happened.
The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon.
The north and south winds met where the house stood, and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In the middle of a cyclone the air is generally still, but the great pressure of the wind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather.
It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle.
Toto did not like it. He ran about the room, now here, now there, barking loudly; but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited to see what would happen.
Once Toto got too near the open trap-door, and fell in; and at first the little girl thought she had lost him. But soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept to the hole, caught Toto by the ear, and dragged him into the room again, afterward closing the trap-door so that no more accidents could happen.
Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her.
In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the