Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Oz Author Breakdown

So over the course of reading all of the Oz books, I have had to experience the styles of many authors who contributed to the series. I am going to take this opportunity to explain what I think of them. In a later blog, I'll probably rate them from my most favorite to least.

*****

L. Frank Baum

Obviously, L. Frank Baum gets major credit for creating the series as a whole. That doesn't make him infallible though. Most of the credit he gets comes from his world-building and character creation. He has always done that well. Almost every character he created got reused by later authors down the line.

As good as his world-building is, Baum had an awful time with continuity. He would either forget things or rework his stories for personal reasons. This actually led to a tradition among Oz authors of not caring if the continuity matched or not. These discrepancies were later explained in "Paradox in Oz" charmingly.

Ruth Plumly Thompson

Hit and miss. Thompson wrote her books entirely for children. She pandered to them harder than any other author. Some might defend her in this, but it made it especially difficult for grown adults to take these books in. The majority of her books had very rigid formulas which made nearly every book seem like the same book but with the characters swapped around.

This formula also led to a sort of feel that the books were being padded out. The characters would often run into these random encounters that were never good. They always made Oz feel like an unsafe and uncomfortable place to live in. She did this far more times than was necessary.

Her much later books were not as bad. She seemed to get get better at broadening her storytelling. Those books are quite good, but they are sadly in the minority. Thompson's rigid belief in pandering to the innocence of children ultimately made most of her books feel dull and uninspired.

John R. Neill

John R. Neill was actually the illustrator of the books since the second one that Baum did. He took over as author for a little while and a lot of people dislike them. That said, however, I really enjoyed the change of pace. His Oz stories seemed directly related to the animated cartoons of his age. Everything was alive and could talk, even inanimate objects. It was chaotic, but it was all done in good fun.

Neill's books also had a main character. Jenny Jump just about turned into a fairy character herself, despite the fact she came from our world. She got extremely integrated into the world of Oz... even creepily so. The Wizard of Oz actually magically lobotomized her to make her friendlier.

My only real complaint was how he had made it so that the colors of the five areas of Oz also reflected in the skin color of their inhabitants. That was annoying to imagine. Nobody else did that and thank goodness!

Jack Snow

Jack Snow brought Oz back into the realm of believable. He was an eloquent writer who took the series seriously. He focused more on serious questing and also the beauty if Oz itself. There was something very personal about how he wrote Oz.

Rachel Cosgrove Payes

Payes is the heavenly saint that gave us Percy the Rat. But more than that, the thing that really impressed me about her writing was her ability to create interesting puzzles for the characters to solve. She also put a hell of a lot of work into making all the characters believable as people. Her dialog and character interaction is some of the best in Oz history.

Now that I think of it, it makes a lot of sense she is so good at puzzles. Her main character was usually a rat. Rats are great at solving puzzles!

Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren Lynn McGraw

These two wrote a few books together. One of them was just Eloise. Their books are a little difficult for me to remember offhand. I believe that the majority of them did well in introducing new and creative characters. I don't think I have any particular complaint about them. I guess they just did not stand out all that well.

Dick Martin

He only wrote one book ("The Ozmapolitan of Oz"). He was better known as an illustrator at the time. I didn't have any real problem with him.

Gina Wickwar

Not a bad author, but she is another author that has difficulty standing out. She handled Toto really well though. I have to give her credit for that. Toto is a character that a lot of authors shy away from.

Eric Shanower

Eric took Oz so seriously that it sometimes dipped into the horror genre. He also officially brought comic books into the Oz canon. That's a big accomplishment. He will always be known as the man who tried mightily to make Oz a story that a person of any age can take seriously.

Edward Einhorn

Einhorn was clearly a science fiction writer. His two Oz books are works of science fiction while still being Oz fantasy. They dealt with things like alternate universes and time travel. He is the author who did what he could to repair the broken continuity started by Baum himself by making everything canon within its own reality. Excellent job!

Sherwood Smith

Smith was the only Oz author to bring our real world problems into the plot. She compared life in Oz to the often broken and sad existence we live here on Earth. That will ultimately be her Ozian legacy. It was a concept worth explaining, as hard as it may be to deal with. Smith wrote the final Oz book ("Sky Pirates over Oz") which was published in 2014.

*****

That's it! Can you figure out who my favorite and least favorite is just from how I reviewed them?

This blog was written on April 12, 2024.

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Monday, April 22, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Oz Series [Review]

This is the last one, I swear.

The Oz series was a book collection that was originally started by L. Frank Baum. It ran from 1900 to 2014. It spanned many authors who all contributed along the way. I am one of the few people who can comment on the series as a whole since I have read every single one of them.

Don't worry, I won't take very long. I am only writing this because I am a completionist at heart.

The whole point of the Oz series was escapism. We all want to imagine a world that is more interesting than the one we got. The fairyland of Oz, with all of its villains and woes, is far more interesting and fun than regular Earth. It's a place we can go to have an adventure.

Everything in Oz is loosely based on our reality. Their strangeness is affected by things happening in our world. That makes it relatable. We can go there and laugh at all the jokes because we understand them. It isn't so alien that we can't understand it.

And although there is danger, there will be plenty of friends made along the way that will surly be there to save us in the end. That's the best thing of all really. Friendship is a major part of the Oz experience. If you prove yourself to be a good person, you will make the friends of every powerful ruler in Oz. They will stand up for you and put everything aside to save you from a terrible fate. Just knowing that is comforting.

People who read Oz read the books to imagine a world that's simply better. Oz still has problems, but the problems don't seem so bad because the power of good is in control. No wonder people dream of escaping to this place.

The books themselves are hit and miss. Some of them have plots that are much too formulaic to be enjoyable, but I personally have no regrets. I still recommend the series as a whole. It was a journey worth making, and I encourage anyone else to take the same path I did. And once you make that journey, Oz will be more than just a fictional land; it will be a real place that you think about from time to time. It will become real to you... and a reason for you to smile from time to time.

This blog was written on April 12, 2024.

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Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Legend of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse [Video Game Review]

[This blog contains spoilers for a game nobody plays anymore.]

I grew up with a Game Gear, although I did not get a whole lot of games for it. A handful really. Even though I did like the handheld system, I never really got to fully enjoy what it had to offer. Lately, I have been digging around through its catalog, and I happened to run into a really interesting title.

"Legend of Illusion Staring Mickey Mouse" is a Game Gear game released in 1995. It is a standard side-scrolling platformer game with very few gimmicks. It was a Disney game made back when Disney was still a company worth anybody's time.

The reason this game got my attention was for the story. It is a fairy tale that really smacks of many of the old fairy tales I have read. It may even be based on one or two of them.

In the game, the kingdom is ruled by Pete who is a selfish king. He finds out that a disaster has befallen his land because something had gone wrong with the Tree of Life. His wiseman tells him that only a king can go deal with this problem or else the world will fall into darkness. Not wanting to be bothered by a dangerous quest, he ends up getting his laundry boy to do it. This laundry boy happens to be Mickey Mouse.

Hilariously, Mickey's only weapon in the game is soap. Yep. He just chucks soap at the enemies that come his way. Talk about a humble protagonist!

After Pete sends Mickey on his way, his wiseman happens to mention something I guess he forgot. Apparently whoever completes this quest will be destined to become the king himself. Now Pete is angry at Mickey even though it was him that sent the mouse on the quest to begin with. I loved this aspect of the story. Pete is a coward and then he is mad at someone else because he did something cowardly. What a hypocrite!

Along the way, Mickey ends up on a few side quests which involve saving the lives of two other kings who happen to be Goofy and Donald. These are all important things as they are testing Mickey's heart. These tests soon lead him into the Land of Illusion where the Tree of Life is at. Apparently an evil sorcerer turned himself into a beaver and stopped the Waters of Time from flowing with... like... a magical... beaver dam... or something. You have to fight the sorcerer to save the Tree of Life. It was a fun fight too!

Of course, when you come back home, Pete is waiting to have you arrested. You get to fight him too and then end up as king. Pete just ends up in a chain gang vowing to be king again someday.

This game's story is the reason to play it. It's a by-the-numbers classic fairytale but with Disney characters taking up the roles. The gameplay was fine. It's not really great, but it wasn't annoying either. Plus, I like that you are a laundry boy who uses soap as a weapon. That's cute. And yes, I do recommend the game but mainly for its fairy tale narrative. It's too bad I didn't get this one when I was a kid.

This blog was written on April 10, 2024.

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Monday, April 15, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Oz Gazette #18 [Review]

"The Oz Gazette #17" is the Winter 2023 edition of the possibly canon mini newspaper published by the International Wizard of Oz Club. Sadly, the one I got was in a bad crumpled-up state because my dad had to hold onto it for a while, but it was all there and readable.

As it turns out, the Nome King was finally dethroned by none other than the Cowardly Lion. Apparently the Nome King had gotten himself drunk on "sparkling mercury," and the Lion snuck in there and stole the king's pants and Magic Belt. Dorothy was then able to use the Magic Belt to wish Ozma back to Oz and then save the day.

The whole edition is specifically about the Cowardly Lion of Oz which is just what I would feel would happen if the Lion had been the hero of the day. All the local newspapers would be about him actually. It even does a lot of promoting for the actual book by Ruth Plumly Thompson called "The Cowardly Lion of Oz."

At the very end of the newspaper, The Woggle-Bug writes his own article about the Cowardly Lion. It was a pretty good read and is even annotated. The best part of it though was the author's by-line which was listed as: Professor H.M. Wobble-Bug, T.E., D. Phil, D. Litt, Th. D., MSc, MA, BSc., EdD, ODd, D. Oz, TWWoO, MLoO, EMerald City Chair-insect Emeritus, Etc.

It was so long that it actually wrapped around the side of the newspaper. I loved it!

Once again, this is hard to recommend since only Ozclub members get these things, but I sure as heck enjoyed myself. I also want to mention that there was a lot of encouragement for people to write their own Oz histories in this issue. That put a smile on my face.

This blog was written on April 4, 2024.

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Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Oz Short Stories

Last one of these, I promise. This blog is to list the Oz short stories that were not featured in numbered books. There's only three of them. Most of the canon short stories were featured in Book 47 "Little Wizard Stories of Oz" and Book 71 "The Collected Short Stories of L. Frank Baum." These were not included in any collection, so they get their own list.

- "A Murder in Oz" by Jack Snow (1958)

This story is not included in the curated list by Joe Bongiorno, however I personally consider it canon because of who wrote it. This was a short story set in Oz written by one of the mainline authors. It's also extremely good and worth the read. Anyone who does not consider this story canon is not taking Oz as seriously as I have. (No offense to Mister Bongiorno, of course, who probably did his best.)

- "Percy and the Sleeping Violet" by Rachel Cosgrove Payes (1995)

I just wanna state one last time how much I love Percy. I am so sad that I will never see him again.

- "Spots in Oz" by Rachel Cosgrove Payes (1997)

That's it! All books and short stories confirmed read. No more Oz for me!

This blog was written on March 21, 2024.

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Monday, April 8, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Spots in Oz [Short Story Review]

[This blog contains spoilers for a short story nobody reads anymore.]

I'm here. I made it. I did the work and finished the journey.

"Spots in Oz" is a short story written by Rachel Cosgrove Payes. It was published in 1997 in the third issue of Oz-story Magazine. It is the very last canon Oz story that I am required to read.

The story centers around two children named Taffy and Fudge, a girl and boy respectively. They are Winkies who live a fairly normal life with their mother. Although there is a sibling rivalry happening which causes all of the problems of the story.

Fudge wants to use some herbs to make a spot removal for his mother, but his sister plays a mean trick on him and adds a bewitched flower to his formula. Meanwhile, Spots the Leopard and the Hungry Tiger are in the area when something bad happens.

Spots is a character that only appears in books written by Rachel Cosgrove Payes. He is a leopard that can actually change his spots. It's how he expresses himself. Basically, he speaks very little, and lets his spots do most of the talking. They change into little emojis, basically. This was a concept that happened long before emojis were even a thing, and it is very cute.

Unfortunately, the bewitched spot remover made Spot's spots disappear. This hilariously made him overtalkative because he did not have his special spots to help him communicate his feelings. The two big cats end up going to the children's house in an attempt to figure out how to solve this problem.

I won't spoil anymore. Afterall, it looks like this magazine isn't too hard to come by. Sufficed to say, I liked this story, and I do recommend it. I like Spots a lot! I think it was almost as good as her other character Percy the Rat... almost. I think Percy will always win the trophy with me. Either way, the story was charming and worth the read. Rachel is very good with characterization and dialog that sounds cute and natural at the same time.

Whelp! That's it! I have read all the canon Oz books and stories. It's all done. I am ready to move on. Thank you all for putting up with all these Oz reviews. I began writing the Oz reviews at book number twenty-three (Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz) way back in December of 2020. I have doggedly reviewed each one up to this final story, and I am happy to have come this far with you guys.

It's sad, but it's finally time to say goodbye to Oz, at least the canon stories anyhow. Either way, I had a great time, and I look forward to what other fairy tales I can find here on Planet Earth. Cheers!

This blog was written on March 21, 2024. (I've only just realized that these have been saying 2023 since the beginning of the year. Oops!)

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Ani-Droids [Book Review]

Many years ago, I read a short story called "Argo" by an author named Rick Griffin. This was actually before I was doing book reviews but still while I had my blog. This short story as well as the movie "A.I." inspired me to write and publish my book "The Fascinating Life of Animal Robots." I was extremely inspired. The short story was so good that I have followed this author ever since.

Rick Griffin is actually a multi-talented individual. He writes, he draws, and he has done full comic books. All of his works are independently published, and he is doing very well for himself, even more than me. I am also an independently published author. With maybe one exception, I consider his writing to be some of the best out there, which is really a huge compliment coming from me since I almost never read anything contemporary.

I do recommend you look into his books. He illustrates them himself, and his art is some of the best out there. Most of it is furry stuff, but it's all taken very seriously. He is obviously putting all of his love into the stories he makes. And when he taps into the science fiction genre, that is where he really shines.

"Ani-Droids" is a novel written by Rick Griffin. It was published in 2023, and it appears to be set in the same universe as his short story "Argo."

In this world, humans have anthropomorphic animals as robotic companions that help them with day-to-day tasks. The story revolves around Mira who works on them for a living, but her main concern is trying to circumvent something called the Behavior Code which puts all the ani-droids on a network, making them less individualistic and more of a hivemind. Mira had made friends with her otter ani-droid named Lily and wants dearly for her to be a close friend and not just some internet connected robot.

The search for this path around the Behavior Code is the main driving point of the book, and it leads to some very dark issues. As cute as the world looks in the beginning, the story gets very dark, but it is also extremely satisfying to read with a conclusion that gives you exactly what you want in a good book.

And I won't spoil anymore.

The thing is, this author is currently at the peak of his career, and I would rather people just buy his books and read them. He deserves support. He's earned it. This book is some of the best thought out science fiction writing I have ever read. It was such a satisfying read that I would happily dive into a sequel is he wanted to work on one. It's really that good.

I whole-heartedly recommend "Ani-Droids" to anyone who likes science fiction. It is filled with intrigue, action, and a whole lot of love. Also, you might also check out his other works of literature as well while your at it. Enjoy!

This blog was written on March 20, 2023.

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Monday, April 1, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Percy and the Shrinking Violet [Short Story Review]

[This blog has spoilers for a short story nobody reads anymore.]

So in the great list of Oz books I had to read, there were two little short stories that I had to obtain to wrap up the whole project. The first of these was called "Percy and the Shrinking Violet." It was written by Rachel Cosgrove Payes and it was first published in 1995. I actually own a real copy of this. It was published in the very first issue of Oz-story Magazine. It's an almost perfect copy too. I either got lucky, or there are a lot of flawless copies floating around on the internet.

Oh, and yes. The "Percy" in the title is Percy the Rat. If I have not made it clear yet, Percy is my favorite Oz character in all of history, and finishing up the books have not changed that opinion. This short story is absolutely a Percy story through and through.

The story goes that there is a horrible ruler named Violetta in the northern Gillikin Country of Oz who wants to replace Ozma as supreme ruler of Oz. She has one of her servants or slaves (depending on how you want to look at it) to bring Ozma a gift of some pretty violets. The problem is that these are actually "shrinking violets" which will make you shrink down to about a foot tall once you get a whiff of them.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for Ozma) it was Percy who intercepted this plan and ended up shrinking instead of Ozma. Jellia Jamb, Ozma head maid, also sniffed it and began to shrink right along with the rat. Now everything is getting to be too big for them. Eventually Ozma shows up, she sniffs the violets, and begins to shrink also. This is bad because the plan is for Violetta to take over the throne once Ozma is too small to rule anymore. It's up to Percy the not-so-giant rat to save the day by figuring out who, when, why, and where!

I won't spoil anymore because I actually want people to read the thing.

"Percy and the Shrinking Violet" may be a short story, but it is paced flawlessly as if it was as long as a book. All the pieces to make up a strong Oz story are present. It also isn't really that short, to be honest. I actually pecked away at it over the course of an entire day. If someone was very busy, they might make it last over several days. I just had plenty of time.

The character of Percy the Rat was as well-presented as he has ever been. He was the smart, clever, and witty rat that I have always loved and adored. This one character has made me actually jealous of fictional characters, because I would rather him be my friend instead of there's. And I just know he would reprimand me for not sharing him with everyone else.

"Percy and the Shrinking Violet" is one of the all-time best Oz stories ever made. It is fun, silly, and even exciting in one part. It gets one of the highest recommendations from me. Find yourself a copy and read it!

This blog was written on March 18, 2023.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Oz Books 72-75

It's time to wrap up the list. Here are the remaining Oz books that I have read, confirming their titles and dates of publication. All the remaining books were written by Ruth Plumly Thompson.

72. "The Curious Cruise of Captain Santa" (1926)

73. "King Kojo" (1938)

This book cost me so much money. I will do what I can to digitally archive this book online. It's so regrettable that such a good book is too difficult to get ahold of.

74. "The Wizard of Way-Up and Other Wonders" (1985)

75. "Sissajig and Other Surprises" (2003)

Books 72, 74, and 75 are easily obtained through the International Wizard of Oz Club. Very affordable.

This ends the canon list of books as curated by someone named Joe Bongiorno. If you have read this far in the series you can say or even brag that you have read the entire Oz book collection. Another thing you can say is that you have read the "Supreme Seventy-Five."

This I have done and have been happy to share it all with you. There is a little bit more to the Oz canon by way of short stories. I'll review them as I finish them, but as for the books, I am done. Cheers.

This blog was written on March 18, 2023.

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Monday, March 25, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Sissajig and Other Surprises [Book Review]

[This blog contains spoilers for a book nobody reads anymore.]

"Sissajig and Other Surprises" is the seventy-fifth and final book in the Oz series originally created by L. Frank Baum. It written by Ruth Plumly Thompson and published in 2003. Much like "The Wizard of Way-Up and Other Wonders," this book similarly features a host of short stories and poems that may or may not have something to do with Oz. And just like last time, I am going to review every last one of them. Alright, let's do this!

*****

"Adventures in Sissajig"

It's the story of Tommy King, a boy from Philadelphia who ends up with a flying handbag that takes him suddenly to the kingdom of Sissajig. Here he ends up being proclaimed king... which would make him King Tommy King.

Everything in Sissajig has a square theme to it. Even their apples are square. They also say the word "a-square" instead of saying "around." Silly stuff like that.

The real problem with Sissajig is not the square thing but simply the fact that everyone is really stupid. They can't seem to do anything without a a king to teach them how things that should be obvious work. And since they tend to go through kings kind of fast, they learn a little more from each king they get along the way. It's a silly system, but I guess it makes sense when all your citizens are morons willing to learn.

I liked this story. It felt like it was a little too short, but I didn't care too much. It was like a really condensed Oz story. Short, silly, and right to the point.

-----

"Tommy and the Flying Slippers: A New Sissajig Story"

A sequel! That was unexpected, but I guess it's only fair since it's the story that's on the title of the book. At the very least, the sequel is right next to the original. In the last book, they made them the first and last, which was kind of a weird thing to do.

Tommy King is back and randomly finding a pair a magic slippers in his room that take him back to Sissajig. But he doesn't go to the same place. He ends up in a city called Two City where everything is done in twos. Although he also finds an undersea man named Akwa Jack.

Akwa Jack is the real treasure of the story. He is a man who lives underwater, but to live above water he has to wear a bowl over his head filled with water so he can breath. Didn't that happen in some Spongebob Squarepants episode?! Did they read this story or was it just a coincident?! Either way, I like the concept.

Two City was more annoying than fun. Yes, the whole binary thing was cool, but everyone there was mean. This gave me callbacks to the random encounters Ruth always put in her Oz stories. Not good. The rest of the story was alright as it involved saving characters from the first story from a witch. I liked that part.

All in all, this one isn't as good as the first one. It had a lot of the problems that were later found in many of her Oz books. I'd still recommend it though since it's so short.

-----

"Perhappsy Adventures"

Yes, I know. This title was also in "The Wizard of Way-Up and Other Wonders." But these poems are different than the ones in that book. Also there's more of them. In the first book, there were two, but now we have five entirely new adventures of the fairy creatures called the Perhappsies.

"Perhappsy Fishing" was about how the fairies all tried to go fishing. They did not want to hurt the fish, so they used lollipops instead of hooks. They end up getting dragged down by a big fish into the lair of the mer-people, and then they had a big party. It was a cute poem.

"Perhappsy Fireworks" had to do with a sick boy who had the measles and so could not see the 4th of July fireworks. So the Perhappsy Chaps show up and put on their own fireworks show for him. I've noticed that it is a common thing for Perhappsy's to try and make sad children happy. They certainly aren't from Ireland!

"The Perhappsy Cat" is about a cat with wings that sort of just lives up in the clouds. The thing that made this one unique to Ruth's works was that it referenced an illustration of the cat that was also included in the book. The picture of the cat was absolutely adorable. She even points out that it can sometimes be seen lapping at the Milky Way.

"Bettsy Bell's Halloween" was about a poor little girl who could not come up with the money to get a costume for a Halloween party. She kept teasing her friends about what the costume would look like, but sadly it was not actually going to happen. The Perhappsies show up at the last minute to make a dress for her and even call her Cinderella for good measure. Once again, they seem to help little children with no real interest in getting anything for it. They need to go to Ireland and kick out all the fairies over there.

"The Perhappsies Print the Public Ledger" is the last one. It's similar to the one from the previous book called "The Toys in the Land of Play" with the difference being that they are playing around in a printing press rather than a room full of toys. It was cute, but I consider this one to be my least favorite of the bunch.

-----

"The Magic Cloak; or, Something New"

The two titles of this one are equally appropriate. It's about a bunch of fairies who dance every night, but the Queen gets bored of it and so wants something new. Unfortunately they can't seem to figure that out. In order to fix the problem, they invent a magic cloak and use it to enchant a little boy named Jack. It shrinks him down to their size and they command him to teach them new things.

What does he teach them? Football. They end up learning how to play football, and for that they love the boy and want to keep them there forever. They go through a lot of trouble to keep him from wishing himself back home, but ultimately he gets away with it.

The story ends with him being able to keep the magic cloak and using it to visit the fairies whenever he wants. I liked it!

-----

"In Fairyland"

It... um... It was a poem. It was a very pretty poem... I guess. Not sure what it was about, but it sounded okay.

-----

"Wide Awake and Sleepy Bye"

The Wide Awake Bird comes flying down
From the rosy clouds of Morning Town ---
And he sings and sings about the day ---
'Til all little children get up and play!

The Sleepy Bye Bird comes fluttering down
From the silver towers of Slumber Town.
And he sings and sings of the Wonderful things
In Slumber Town; and he flaps his wings
'Til all little children fall fast asleep ---
And climb in their dreams to his towers steep.

-----

"The Magic Spectacles"

A king wants to marry out his daughter to a prince, and the rules are that they have to give her a gift. The gift that she likes the most means a winner. A lot of princes give her all kinds of pretty gifts, but none of that really matters.

There are two princes that have their own respective magical spectacles. One of them lets you see all the evil in people and the second prince has spectacles that lets you see all the good in people. She ultimately picks the latter prince because she can see the finer points of all the people surrounding her rather than all the things that make them evil.

This is a good story that deals with cynicism and... well.. a generally better outlook on things. Where it is true a lot of people have bad qualities, that might not be everything that makes them who they are. If we simply think that everyone is bad, then there is no getting along with anyone. You have to find the good in people if it's there. If not, then why even live in public?

It was a thought provoking story, and I liked it.

-----

"Royal Baking Powder Adventures"

This was actually a set of two long narrative poems that were basically about how cake makes everything better. The cake in question is actually made with "royal baking powder" which I suppose is some sort of a fairy magic ingredient.

"The Little Gingerbread Man, A Royal Time" was about a king whose cook made terrible cake which promoted the same king to make cake illegal. Kinda of a rash decision, in my opinion.

The flour fairies send the famous Gingerbread Man to bring the king special well-made cakes, in an airplane no less, to tempt the king into reversing the law. The cakes seem so nice that he is forced to take the law away, but he also requires that his cook makes cakes the same way the fairies do. It was cute.

"The Comical Cruises of Captain Cooky" is a story about the titular Captain Cooky, a cookie man, who sails to the kingdom of Bombaree, a land in a constate state of war. The belief is that if they just had good cake in their kingdom, they wouldn't fight so much. Apparently they were right, because the plan worked. Imagine stopping a war by feeding everybody cake!

-----

"The Little Prince and the Faithful Bluebird"

It's a story about a Bluebird that discovers a prince inside a secluded dungeon. She uncovers a plot of an evil queen who put him there so that she could become Queen of the kingdom. The Bluebird travels to his kingdom to try and find anyone who can help the poor prince out.

Without going too much into spoilers here, I want to point out that this story has all the makings of a classically written fairy tale. I was a bit surprised by it. Ruth must have been really inspired when she wrote it. If you can get a copy of just this particular story, it's well-worth the read. It's very exciting and engaging for all three chapters of it.

-----

"Th Eancie Ntknight!"

Look at that stupid title. Just look at it. This was the worst poem so far. I don't even want you to read it. It's about a knight who makes off with a king's daughter. It's more complicated then that, but I don't care. You see, Ruth wrote a whole poem and then just messed around with the spacing to make it nigh unreadable. Just look at the title and imagine an an entire narrative poem with that done to it. It was crap.

-----

"Emperor Ching Wow"

I don't mind stuff that is, by today's standards, considered racist, but the problem here is totally different. This is a six chapter story about a lot of wild and magical things happening in China. But the author mixes up China with Japan and even the Middle East. It's all a complete mess. She also turns China into a functioning fairyland. In my opinion, it would have been better to just strip out the nationality and just make all the characters generic fairies. Alternatively, she could have actually bothered to do research about China... which she very likely didn't.

-----

"The Story of the First Brown-Haired Princess"

Wonderful! In this story, everyone expects a princess to have golden hair, so this particular princess was in disgrace for being born with brown hair. It all works out because there is a king who finds her brown hair beautiful and marries her anyways.

Now, the story itself is very basic, but what was really wonderful was that it was inspired by a letter that Ruth got which was also included in the story itself. This was the cutest letter ever written to a fairy tale author:

"Dear Miss Ruth --- Please write a fairy story for me --- and I want to ask you something: In all the fairy books I have the Princesses always have golden hair. I do wish once they would have a Princess with brown hair!
Marjorie Henderson
"P.S. --- In your story, please, make the Princess have brown hair."

♥THAT WAS THE CUTEST LETTER I EVER READ!♥

-----

"Ma Kebe Lievetea!"

This is the same stupid concept as with "Th Eancie Ntknight!" where she writes a decent poem but then messed up all the spaces. The poem is actually pronounced "Make Believe Tea" and is about little girls having a pretend tea party. The poem without all the awful editing is actually very good, but sadly, this is the way it was published, so whatever.

-----

"Land o' Patch"

A cute story about a king that was half fairy and half witch. Half the time he was good and half the time he made evil decisions. There was also this weird rule that if he makes a decree without carrying it out in three days, his kingdom will be destroyed.

So in a fit of rage, one day, he orders the execution of his three sons by specifically calling for them to be beheaded. When he realized what he had done, he immediately regretted it and tried to ask everyone how he could get out of it, but nobody could figure it out. Also his sons were good people and willing to die so that the kingdom would be saved.

However, there was one hilarious wiseman that figured it out. He said that his sons cannot be "bee-headed" because there is no way to make someone have the head of a bee. It worked. Like... the king was in the clear because a wiseman changed the whole context of the sentence. I like the story a lot even though it was stupid.

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"The Two Knights"

A clever poem about two knights which are actually representing day and night constantly battling each other and winning at their appropriate times. When the dark night loses, it's becomes daytime and visa versa.

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"The Pumpkin Witch"

Under the misty moon's pale light
    To the Pumpkin-field stole Bob at night.
        From the vines he pulled the biggest one,
                Then straightened up to cut and run!
                    But --- wow --- a moan, and next a twitch
                        Jerked Bob about to face a witch!!

An awful pumpkin witch!! Down crashed
    The pumpkin to the ground and smashed!!
        The moon went in --- and through the pitch
            And inky dark, changed by the witch
                Ran Bob. A pumpkin without leave,
                    Oh, never take on Halloweve.
                        For lurking in the fields and ditches
                            Are ghosts and spooks and Pumpkin Witches!!

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"The Fairy's Silver Trumpet"

A short story about a fairy princess that everyone wants to marry and are willing to go to war for. She proposes a test to see who is worthy which comes by way of a silver trumpet that nobody can seem to make any sound with. As it turns out, one prince is able to do it by having the fairy princess touch him as he plays, and it works. The story is about how a good woman can make a man even stronger and give him stability. I liked it.

-----

"Pumperdink Adventures"

Three new Pumperdink stories. I like to imagine that these stories take place in Oz, but the truth is that these were likely written before Ruth placed the kingdom inside of Oz. Even so, it is not unreasonable to consider these stories to be inside of Oz. After all, Pumperdink is actually in Oz now.

"A Story About Dragons" was about a dragon who has to eat coals in order to live, but he was impoverished. He actually goes to the castle at Pumperdink to beg for work so that he could get fed coals to stay alive. As it turns out, dragons make a great furnace, and so he ends up becoming the official furnace of Pumperdink castle. Cute! It, in some ways, resembled "The Reluctant Dragon" in its construction.

"The Laughing King, a Page Out of Pumperdink History" is a funny poem about a king who had decided to abdicate the throne with his prince. The reason he is doing so is because he doesn't exactly know what he is doing there anymore. When asked what he was known for being good at, everyone says he had a good laugh. Not really good enough to be a king, so he buggered off.

"Christmas With the Prince" is about the prince of Pumperdink who had so many possessions that he couldn't think of anything new to ask for for Christmas. As it turns out, he finds that giving things to the less fortunate is actually a sort of gift in itself. I thought this one was cute.

-----

"Wooden Animals I Have Known"

Two short poems about wooden animals in a land made of wood. The first one was about [The Camel] and the second one was about [The Dragon]. They are both good for basic nursery rhymes. I liked the dragon one more because it was both violent and cute at the same time.

-----

"The Magic Pipe"

This is a story about a bunny who finds a discarded pipe. When he smokes it, it takes him into a land up in the clouds. He is promptly thanked for returning the pipe which is apparently used to make it rain. He is then shot back down (in the rain) to return to his wife, but with golden shoes he can sell to buy as many carrots as he will ever need.

The thing that makes this short story unique is that she has a talking animal shown as a very normal thing. Usually talking animals is the result of a fairy involvement.  In this case, the rabbit is just a regular person who ends up in a fantastic situation. It was an amusing, little tale.

-----

"The Tale of a Pink Falmingo"

A narrative poem about a pink flamingo that gets his neck tied in a knot which prevents him from being able to eat. So he goes to a number of birds to get help, but it ends up being an actual sailor that unties it. Honestly this story feels like Ruth had a very silly brain fart when she wrote it down, and I loved it.

-----

"The Amiable Old Dragon"

Another narrative poem. This one was... kind of shocking and sad. There was an old, friendly dragon who nobody liked because he was scary looking. One day a mermaid shows up and asks him why he is so sad, and he explained that he has no friends. She says that she will be his friend. The dragon is so happy he jumped right into the water to be with the mermaid.

Unfortunately... the way dragons work in Ruth's stories is that they get "put out" by water. So he died. Yep. The author makes a point that... at least he found a friend before it all ended. Why did she write this?

-----

"Brother and Sister Goose"

A narrative poem about the children of Mother Goose going out into the world to seek wisdom. Instead they just get taken advantage of a lot until they finally find a fairy wiseman to help them out. It's a cute story but kind of random.

-----

"The Princess of Plumpieland!"

A two-part story about a land made up of very fat people. The princess needs to marry a king, but nobody wants to wed a fat princess. The one guy that does want her, the princess greatly dislikes. This leads to a bomb getting dropped in the middle of town. It comes with a message saying that if she does not marry soon, the kingdom will be destroyed.

That's the main force of the story. I won't spoil the rest of it, but I will say that it wraps up pretty nicely. It is funny that everyone there is fat though. Ruth likes to place very specific themes on her fantasy kingdoms, and that is really the whole point of this one. Without the fat people, it wouldn't be as interesting.

-----

"Who Can It Be?"

A silly and very simple poem about not knowing who is knocking at the door.

-----

"The Forgetful Poet"

Three poems apparently written by a forgetful poet. Although I'd rather just call the guy confused.

[A Spring Song] was just a poem with unfinished lines. At the very end, the poet simply gives up. I actually didn't mind this one. It sounded like the guy just couldn't get it together.

[A Winter Night] was a poem where everything was jumbled up such as a roaring and hot cat and a fire taking a nap. That sort of thing. It was funny.

[Moving Day] is just about how annoying it is to move. I didn't care for this one as much. It was a bit too competent to belong to the Forgetful Poet.

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"King, King! Double King!"

Two princes born three minutes apart which makes it hard to tell who the eldest is. But the eldest prince actually just wants to rule the throne with his brother. This story deals with a queer situation where two brothers might rule as one king.

-----

"The Enchanted Cat"

This is a parable sort of story that is about a wise judge who thought he knew everything about how humans behave. A sorcerer who does not think this to be true transforms him into a cat to teach him how people really are. As it turns out, all the rich and wealthy people he knew treats him like crap, but the poor people in the city are very nice to him. Not a bad story!

I have noticed that in old stories, there are a lot of instances of cats being treated horribly. It doesn't happen quite as much as it used to. Have any of you noticed that?

-----

"Satiric Verses"

These are six poems about various topics. All are thoughtful and interesting in their own way.

"The Man Without a Hook" was about a man whose wife has so much clothing that he doesn't have anywhere to hang up his own clothing.

"How Long!" was probably about Ruth herself complaining about having to wear pretty gowns and stuff when she preferred to dress more for comfort.

"Positively Off It!" is just a short poem complaining about traveling and how a lot of vehicles take forever to get moving.

"Author! Author!" is actually kind of interesting. It talks about how in comics and drama when people get murdered and such there tend to be an extra edge of drama that comes off as amusing rather than disturbing. Think of how James Bond quips after murdering someone. We don't normally think about this.

"O Sweet Bovinity" is Ruth imagining the very docile life of a cow. Even when they get turned into steak, they don't really understand or care. Kind of a life lived in ignorance.

"Epicurus" -- Despite the name, this poem is about something I think about occasionally. Ever think about all the meat you've eaten and how many whole animals you've gone through in your life? Well, with this poem, Ruth was doing just that.

-----

"Country Verses"

Three poems that have a relaxing country vibe.

"Happiness" is pretty much what it sounds like. It is a happy poem about happiness.

"The Little Roads" is about the out of the way pathways that we all enjoy walking.

"A Little Red Robin" is a silly poem about just being happy and dancing.

-----

"A Visit to Jelly Bean Island"

This is a very Oz-like story and similarly in the vane to the Sissajig tales at the beginning of the book. It's about a boy named Fred who gets suddenly transported to a place called Jelly Bean Island. Here they actually grow jelly beans on vines, but they have no one to sell them to. Fred was put here by a Wishing Cat (a cat with wings) to solve the problem.

Basically there is a nearby island with giants living there. Nobody wants to mess with them because they are scary, but the truth was that nobody actually interacted with them either. Fred advises they try and sell the jelly beans to them, which turns out to be exactly what they need to do. Also the giants basically spend all day mining gold that they don't know what to do with, so they just give all of it to Jelly Bean Island for payment. Hilarious.

There are a few things I want to mention here. The Wishing Cat is very similar to the Perhappsy Cat from one of the Perhappsy stories I reviewed earlier in the book. It might be the same one, but it's unclear.

There is an important elephant character in this story that assists Fred with the giants. Her name was Jumbalena, and she is somewhat similar to the Kubumpo character seen in Oz. The characters are different though being that their genders are different. You can tell Ruth just likes elephants though.

Lastly, the ship they take to the giant's island was called the Jenny Jump. This is the name of the lead protagonist of the John R. Neill Oz books. "A Visit to Jelly Bean Island" was published well after John's books were released, so this is obviously a homage to that character. All in all, this was a great fairy tale story.

-----

"The Sand Man's Desert"

So, some poems speak to me and some don't. This poem gets a very slight pass for me. It's about some sort of fairy sand man living in the desert who has an association with fairy folk. It's just not as good as some of her others, but that's just my opinion. I can see how someone could still like this one.

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"The Bear Who Stayed Up Late"

This was a good one. The story is about a bear cub named Hugabee who refused to hibernate. He also wants to go live with humans and enjoy being awake all winter. A cute bunny named Rufus tries his best to change his mind, but he can't seem to get the bear off of it. Eventually, the bear falls asleep in the snow and some friendly fairy dwarves come and rescue him.

The thing that makes this story so good is how naturally the dialog runs. These characters all sound like real people of their respective ages. The situations also seem to resemble real events. She did a great job with this one. One of her absolute best.

-----

"The Magic Wishing Sack"

Oh, lookie here. She wrote a play. It's just a one-act play, but it was cute. It's about a small fishing family who get invaded by exactly one pirate named Slim Jim. He plans on taking them all to his ship and force them to work. One of the children claims to have a magic sack that can make anything he wishes for, and he demands it. They explain that, to make it work, he has to put it over his head, and, like an idiot, he does it. They then tie him up and the sheriff takes him away.

My favorite part was when Slim Jim says, "Yo ho ho and a bottle of ---" And then he looks at the audience realizing this is a family production and says, "And a bottle of POP!" Hilarious and cute.

-----

"Oz Poems"

Oh, good. Finally some Oz content. These are all poems though. I'll go over each of them.

"A Christmas Present for Ozma" is a cute poem about the Scarecrow. He is trying to think of a good present for the fairy ruler of Oz and ends up picking a rocking chair. There is some reference to President Kennedy here, but the point of it was lost to me. Does anyone know what a rocking chair has to do with Kennedy?

"Merry Christmas From Jinnicky" is a simple Christmas greeting from Jinnicky the Red Jinn. He is a character only seen in Ruth's Oz books. He is actually from Ev, but visits Oz a whole lot. There is a lot of controversy about him in the fandom because he keeps black slaves back at home. I actually find him extremely charming though. He has a personality somewhat similar to the genie from Disney's Aladdin.

"A Christmas Wish" is a simple Christmas greeting featuring the Wizard of Oz.

"Where Santa Spends Christmas" was interesting. The poem was about how Santa apparently spends Christmas Day at the Emerald City where everyone gives him presents! That was actually really sweet. Nobody every talks about giving things back to Santa after all of his hard work.

"If, An Oz Verse to be Used for Advertising Purposes" is a surprisingly good poem that is intended to get people interested in reading Oz books. I think this may actually be canon since the Oz books are considered to be written by the Royal Historians of Oz. It makes sense to me! This one was my favorite of the Oz poems.

"The Sawhorse" is a simple poem about the Sawhorse of Oz.

"Famous Jacks - One Who is Some Pumpkins" is the worse one of the bunch. What even is that title? The poem is about Jack Pumpkinhead, but I found it as confusing as its title. This was my least favorite. It was also the last one.

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"A Day in Oz, or, Scraps in Oz"

This is a very fun and silly play written very specifically to promote a couple of official Oz books by Ruth Plumly Thompson. There are two versions of this play that change depending on which book is the one being promoted, and those versions differ significantly, although the songs are the same in both. Yes, this is not just a play, it's a musical.

The story is really just the main characters all coming together in the throne room of Ozma and talking about how fun Oz can be. The songs are about the respective characters and are all very good, although I wish I could have heard them set to music. It's all poetry to me.

The thing that really surprised me was that, on the very day I read this, I was talking to my friends about how in canon Oz nobody ever actually holds one of the Oz books in their possession. Literally that night, I read this play and they were holding the books in their hands for the audience to see. Now one can argue that it can't really be canon because this was a play intended to promote the books, but I don't care about that. This whole book is considered canon, so I still think it was a very shocking coincident.

Both versions of this play are good. One version focuses on Scraps, and the other one on Jack Pumpkinhead and shockingly the former king of Oz, Pastoria who is literally Ozma's dad. This was a fun read, and I would totally go see this play even if it is just intended to sell books. There was enough love put into it to warrant a viewing.

*****

With the completion of this book, I have read all seventy-five books in the Oz series. And this last one gets an easy recommendation from me. It was even more fun than the previous one, and a great one to end the series on. I loved it.

Is this the end? Is that all? Am I entirely done with Oz?! Well... no. There's a little more. Just a little. Some tiny little left-overs that I need to deal with before I can say the journey is 100% complete. But as for the books themselves, I have read them all. Stay tuned to this blog to see what else I come up with. I promise to keep it all interesting. Thanks!

This blog was written on March 18, 2023.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Also stop by my Amazon.com listing by clicking this link: https://www.amazon.com/T.K.-Wade/e/B07BQK9RTZ

Check out my books! Thanks!

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: All Aboard for Ararat [Book Review]

"All Aboard for Ararat" is a book written by H.G. Wells. It was published in 1940 about six years before he died. I read this one because of its strong Biblical themes, but I knew going into it that it was going to be atheistic. H.G. Wells is a staunch atheist as well as being very pro-socialist and even rather blatantly pro-communist. It's just what he is, and he has been fairly open about it in a number of his books and personal writings.

The idea here is that it is the 40's, and the world is dealing with war. A man named Noah sees the whole human experiment as being a failure which prompts God to suddenly walked in on him and rather agree with this. After explaining all of his pains and woes, God proposes another flood to give the human race a chance to try again.

Yes, I know God said that he wouldn't flood the world again, but that didn't stop H.G. Wells from making it happen! Also the reasons for the original flood are extremely misrepresented!

Despite some glaring inconsistencies between this book and the Bible, I can actually tell that he read the book. He knew about a lot of things and even had some interesting analysis. The problem though is that he doesn't seem to understand the context of most of it. He makes very common mistakes that a lot of people make, even Christians, where they take the entire book to be prescriptive and not what it really is, mostly descriptive.

There is also a huge misunderstanding as to the nature of Satan. In the book, when God created light, it also formed his shadow. The shadow was Satan, being the dark side of God. This was absolute, hot boiled garbage. Also God did not create light in his own universe; he created it in ours. We don't even know what was happening in his world. And there is no evidence that God has ever struggled with Satan. The whole premise of this is fairly ignorant and self-serving for his book.

But even so, you might actually like the portrayal of God in this book. He is often genuinely amusing! And he does make a few good points about how nobody seems to understand his book (including the author of this one.) He came across as relaxed, humorous, and silly. To be perfectly honest, he was about a stone's through away from the way I wrote God in my two Christian books: "Our Devine Comedy" and "Our Devine Spinoff." Not even joking! I really enjoyed God in this one, despite how incorrect he was.

Sadly, the scenes with God are really the best parts, and they don't happen as much as I would have liked. The bulk of the book is a self-monologue from the main character about how the world after the second flood needs to become a communist utopia and that atheism should be the new religion. Even God seems to agree with this. Yes, God in this book would rather humans stop believing in him. What even...

One very interesting thing that does happen, and probably my favorite part, was that God accuses Noah of writing a whole bunch of books that were written by H.G. Wells. Noah actually did not do this and it left him seriously confused, but God doubles and triples down on it! I freaking love this moment, and it felt so real to me. God somehow knew that Noah was actually H.G. Wells and called him out on his crap. This whole book was just a vehicle for his socialistic nonsense, and, for some hilarious reason, H.G. Wells had a self-owning moment by making God break the fourth wall. Best damn part of the whole book! I even sometimes wonder if the real God made him do this!

The story does make it into to the ark scene, but it transitions into it like a dream. It was very surreal. Even Noah did not expect it to happen. There was also this extremely weird stuff about Jonah trying to get onto the ship, but they kept throwing him off. A whale eats him, spits him up, he tries to get back on the ship, they end up killing him and tossing him back off, and then the corpse just doggedly follows the boat, stinking up the local atmosphere. What even...

The sailing part of the story weirdly stops abruptly. It was as if the author just did not know how to end it. The whole book ends with a very sudden anti-climax. I literally did not expect it. I had planned on reading for about another week since there was a huge number of pages left over, but that was all filled with Wells' bibliography. What even... Whelp!

Even though this book has some entertaining parts in it, the bulk of it is actually really boring. For that reason, I can't really recommend it. But if you are interested in the stuff with God, it's mainly the first... very lengthy... chapter. There is some stuff near the end, but it's far more sparse. That said, this is a pro-communism/pro-atheism book without an ending. Read at your own risk.

This blog was written on March 15, 2023.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Also stop by my Amazon.com listing by clicking this link: https://www.amazon.com/T.K.-Wade/e/B07BQK9RTZ

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Monday, March 18, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Watching Oz Slip Away

I was sitting here thinking about stuff. I am currently reading the very last Oz book. The bookmark is about three quarters in. There isn't much left. Getting close to finishing such a long series has a strange effect on me. It makes me look back at a lot of my life up to this point.

I never recorded when I began reading this series, but I remember a little bit about what my life was like back then. The Oz books were what inspired me to do the "Ava in Fairyland" book and audio drama. That seems like an age ago. It really does.

Originally, I only intended to read all of the Baum Oz books. (Just 14 books.) I picked up a Ruth Plumly Thompson one out of curiosity, and I guess I just decided to keep going. I had no idea how long it was going to last. I never really believed I would go all the way to the end. I even planned to stop somewhere around #40.

But here I am at #75... slowly finishing it off. Soon it will be over. There will be a certain feeling of freedom that will come with it. I can just relax and fill that slot with whatever I feel like. I am looking forward to this. I even kind of yearn for it. As fun as the Oz books have been... I am ready to move on.

But I'm not quite there. I've just got to do a little bit more. I'll probably write a lot more blogs about Oz. Just fan blogs. I'll have fun doing those... but as far as reading the books... they'll be there if I need them.

Thank you, L. Frank Baum, for giving me something to enjoy for such a major part of my life. And thanks to God for giving us L. Frank Baum.

This blog was written on March 14, 2023.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Also stop by my Amazon.com listing by clicking this link: https://www.amazon.com/T.K.-Wade/e/B07BQK9RTZ

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Enchanted Tree of Oz

"The Enchanted Tree of Oz" is an unfinished story written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was originally written in 1927. The story was intended to act as a contest for people to send in an ending. The winner would have had their ending published. It however was not actually published until 1965 in the Autumn issue of "The Baum Bugle." Most recently, it was republished in the book "The Wizard of Way-Up and Other Wonders."

Because this story is so old and was not really used in the manner in which it was intended, it has since fallen apart in some ways. An entire page of the manuscript was lost, and naturally the ending is missing. There doesn't seem to be any record of a contest winner and their submission.

This whole thing really bothered me. I love the Oz series so much. Having an Oz story written by a famous author in such an unfinished state bothered me enough to do something about it. So here is what I have.

The following is the entire story of "The Enchanted Tree of Oz" as written by Ruth Plumly Thompson with a few minor exceptions:

1: The missing page was written by me. I did my best to match the before and after scenes. This particularly bothered me because the page had already been written by Thompson, but sadly it just does not exist anymore.

2: The original ending of the book had a small section encouraging the reader to write their own ending to it. I have completely omitted that from this blog for the sake of keeping the integrity of the story whole.

3. The entire ending is mine. I wrote it to match Thompson's style to the best of my abilities.

4. The author (Thompson and Wade respectively) is listed at the beginning of each section. This is to prevent any claims of plagiarism.

And now, after ninety-seven years, I present to you the complete short story of "The Enchanted Tree of Oz."

*****

The Enchanted Tree of Oz

By Ruth Plumly Thompson and T.K. Wade


-Thompson-

“This reminds me of old Oz times, just we four together like this!”

Waving his tail gently, the Cowardly Lion blinked happily at little Dorothy who was riding in state upon his back, then up at the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow who were walking arm in arm at his side.

“Do you remember how we first came to the Emerald City, boys? How the Scarecrow got his magic brains and Nick his heart and I some of the Wizard's courage?”

“Sometimes I think that was the best adventure we ever had.” sighed Dorothy, patting the Cowardly Lion dreamily on the ear. “Do you remember how the cyclone blew me from Kansas to Oz and how I found the Scarecrow and lifted him down from his pole?”

“A lift I shall never forget, my dear!” Snatching off his old blue hat, the Scarecrow dropped such a deep bow that he lost his balance and toppled into a ditch at the side of the road.

“And do you remember how you found me rusting in the green forest?” put in Nick Chopper, pulling the Scarecrow expertly to his feet and looking eagerly down at Dorothy — “and how I told you my sad, sad story?”

“There, there! You needn't tell it again," said the Cowardly Lion gruffly. “We all know how your ax was enchanted by a wicked witch and how you chopped off one arm, then the other, then your head, both legs and your body. And we know how after each ax-ident you were mended by a friendly tin smith till you were entirely a man of tin. Then you were caught in a rain storm which rusted your joints and you stood helplessly in the forest for a year until little Dorothy oiled you up and brought you to the Emerald City with us. I know that story by heart.” Wagging his tail roguishly, the Cowardly Lion grinned up at his old friend.

“But you’ll admit it’s a good story?” Taking out a piece of chamois, the Tin Woodman began to rub up his shiny chest. “How many changes since those days,” he mused thoughtfully, “Instead of a poor wood chopper, I am now Emperor of the winkies.”

“And Dorothy a Princess of Oz,” rumbled the Cowardly Lion proudly, “and the Scarecrow here chief councilor and advisor to the Queen. It isn’t many countries that have a Scarecrow to advise them.”

“Or a Cowardly Lion to fight for them," smiled Dorothy, going the Cowardly Lion a little hug. “That’s what makes Oz so nice and funny.”

And Dorothy is right about that, for in the marvelous Land of Oz, ruled over by Ozma, the loveliest little girl fairy out of the world, all the inhabitants are either nice or funny and some like the Scarecrow are nice and funny too. So perhaps because she had discovered the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion and rescued the Tin Woodman on her very first adventure, she is fonder of them than of anyone else in the entire kingdom.

They were on their way to the Tin Woodman’s, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the building of his tin castle. Chatting away merrily about old times, they proceeded down the Queen's Highway that leads from the Emerald City to the Land of the Winkies. The morning passed pleasantly enough, but as the sun grew hotter the Cowardly Lion began to pant a little and complain that the gold paving stones were hurting his feet, so to please him they stepped off the Highway and turned into a little wood.

“I wish we had brought along some lunch,” said Dorothy after they had gone a little way in silence. “There aren’t any houses in here, and nothing grows on these trees but leaves.”

“I see something that’s not a leaf!” exclaimed the Scarecrow, waving his hat toward a tree that stood all by itself a little distance ahead. “I see something that looks like a pear, is colored like a cherry and is as large as a cantaloupe."

“Wonder what it would taste like,” said Dorothy, hopping off the Cowardly Lion's back and looking up curiously at the strange fruit.

“Better leave it alone,” advised the Cowardly Lion, beginning to tremble slightly. “We'll soon be at Nick Chopper’s now and he will have a regular feast for us. won't you, old fellow?Better leave it alone — it may be poison!” "You're always afraid of something.” sniffed the Tin Woodman. "Of course there’ll be a feast at the castle, but why shouldn't Dorothy have this fruit if she wants it? I'm too stiff to climb a tree, but the Scarecrow will pick it for her.” “But I shall taste it first,” insisted the Cowardly Lion in a faint voice. “Then if anything happens it will happen to me and not to Dorothy.”

“Nothing will happen,” laughed Dorothy, throwing both arms 'round the Cowardly Lion's neck, “but you're pretty brave. I think!”

“That's the way with him!” chuckled the Scarecrow. "Always feeling cowardly and acting bravely. Give me a boost, Nick, and I’ll have that fruit in two whiffs of a whiffet!” So while the Cowardly Lion shook his head mournfully, Nick Chopper lifted the Scarecrow up till he could catch hold of a lower branch. Then quite easily the straw man swung himself aloft.

But horrors! No sooner had his foot touched the third bough than the tree began to send out new branches. Thicker and thicker, faster and faster they grew till the Scarecrow was entirely hidden by a mass of leaves and twigs.

“Well, that’s funny!” muttered the Tin Woodman, peering up nervously. "Are you still there, old fellow?” The Cowardly Lion pricked up his ears and Dorothy and Nick waited anxiously for an answer. But none came, only the rustle of the wind in the leaves....

 

-Wade-

 

…could be heard by the three confused travelers.

“I was worried something like this might happen,” whimpered the Cowardly Lion placing a trembling paw to his maw. “And there is no telling what had happened to him now.”

“He’s probably just all tangled up in those branches,” figured Dorothy cautiously. “Although I have never seen a tree grow out like that so suddenly.”

“Well, I shouldn’t think we can leave without him. What should we do?”

“Panicking might be an option,” muttered the Cowardly Lion who was still very much worried for the straw man’s safety.

“I’ve climbed a few trees back at my home in Kansas. I might be able to get to the Scarecrow and untangle him.”

“Oh, please don’t,” advised the Cowardly Lion.

Nick Chopper looked up thoughtfully at the place where his old chum had disappeared. He trusted in Dorothy although he was concerned that the same thing might happen to her. After all, this was the first time any of them had come upon this manner of problem.

“I say you should attempt to find the Scarecrow, Dorothy,” said the Tin Woodman. “But do promise me that you shall leap down the moment you sense anything is wrong.”

“The very moment,” cautioned the Cowardly Lion. “If you get caught, I’ll have to climb up to save both of you and the very thought of doing so frightens me.”

“Very well,” said the little girl with a nod. Stepping out of her shoes, Dorothy approached the tree while the Tin Woodman carefully assisted her with his strong metal hands to climb up to the first branch.

Once she was stable, the girl attempted to make her way up to the mass of overgrown branches where the Scarecrow had disappeared. But as she reached the second bough, the same thing that happened before happened a second time. New branches shot out quickly all around her. Dorothy attempted to climb down and out of their way, but they came out so fast that she was quickly encompassed. Soon nobody could see her at all.”

“Dorothy, dear?” called the Tin Woodman. “Dorothy, can you hear me?” But like what had occurred with the Scarecrow, Dorothy could not be heard answering him back.

“Dorothy too?” trembled the Cowardly Lion. “Is this tree cursed?”

“Perhaps,” replied the Tin Woodman as he placed his ax to the side. “I have no choice but to try to climb the tree myself, although I am not very fit for climbing anything.”

“Maybe there is a ladder nearby,” suggested the Cowardly Lion looking about for one, but of course there was no ladder anywhere.

Nick Chopper did his level best to climb up the tree, but as you may suspect his metal joints were much too stiff to perform such a feat. Also his metal feet kept slipping down the trunk preventing him from gaining a foothold. The poor fellow could not even reach the first branch.

 

-Thompson-

 

"Now, what shall we do? What shall we do now?” moaned the Cowardly Lion as Nick, after a tenth attempt to climb the tree, fell heavily on his back and lay blinking up at the sky.

“If I can stand on you, maybe I can make it,” panted the Tin Woodman, rising creakily to his feet and picking up his ax.

“What good will that do?” roared the Cowardly Lion dismally. “Do you want to disappear too? Stop climbing and think, can’t you?” Thus admonished, Nick Chopper stood perfectly still and after a moment’s deep thought strode sternly up to the tree.

“I’ll chop it down,” declared the Tin Woodman boldly, and raising his ax he sent a crashing blow against the stout tree trunk. Again and again Nick’s ax rose and fell. The Cowardly Lion blinked and shuddered at each blow, and dodging the flying chips prepared to catch Dorothy and the Scarecrow as they fell. At last, with a terrific crash, the tree did fall. Nick jumped back with a little cry of triumph and the Cowardly Lion rushed forward with a little roar of relief. But there was no sign of Dorothy or the Scarecrow anywhere to be seen. The great red fruit lay crushed on the ground, and as the two stared in fright and alarm a little brown dwarf sprang furiously out of the branches.

“Treason! Treason!” yelled the dwarf, shaking his fist at the Tin Woodman.

“Treason! Treason! Without reason

You’ve robbed the tree of Whutter Wee.

If you would see your friends once more

Chop it to kindling wood, before

The night. Unless it’s chopped up then,

You’ll never see your friends again!”

“Stop!” cried the Tin Woodman, making a little snatch at the dwarf. But before he could touch him the little fellow stamped three times and sank into the earth.

“Don’t stop! Chop!” coughed the Cowardly Lion, springing up in a frenzy. “Chop, Nick, chop! Didn't you hear what he said? Chop for your life while I run for help!”

With a bound ten feet long, the Cowardly Lion started in the direction of the Emerald City, while Nick, seizing the ax, began to chop as fast as he had ever done in his whole two lives. But for every branch he cut off two more grew, and to add to his discomfort and dismay it began to storm. Long growls of thunder came rumbling through the forest, followed by green and blue flashes of lightning. Then came the rain, harder and harder and harder. As long as he could, poor Nick kept chopping, but soon the steady downpour washed all the oil from his body. Jerkier and jerkier became his strokes and rustier and rustier his joints of tin till at last, with a dismal squeak and his arms still uplifted, the Tin Woodman stopped altogether, powerless to move or strike another blow.

Above the howling of the wind he could hear the snap of new branches that were growing upon the hateful tree and the low malicious laughter of the little brown dwarf under the leaves.

“Unless the Cowardly Lion reaches the Emerald City before night, all is lost,” groaned poor Nick, and at the thought of never seeing little Dorothy or the Scarecrow again his own tears joined the rain drops that were coursing down his tin cheeks.

 

-Wade-

 

Like a bolt of the same lightning steaking across the sky the Cowardly Lion shot across the Queen’s Highway. No longer did the golden bricks hurt his feet. The feline cared nothing for his own discomfort, but that the loss of two of his friends were a very real possibility. He could do nothing but run faster than he had ever done in the whole of his life. Fear was what drove him onward which was the same sort of feeling that had driven him to fight so many times before.

This storm that had caused the Tin Woodman to rust had spread even to the Emerald City which was not accustomed to such weather. All the Ozians living there ran into their homes to prevent getting wet or even worse to be struck by the flashing lightning. But as all these people ran into the houses, the Cowardly Lion dashed through the gates, down the roads, and directly into the Emerald Palace where Princess Ozma and the Wizard presently resided.

“Dorothy and the Scarecrow are in terrible danger!” cried the Cowardly Lion as he crashed through the door to the throne room. Princess Ozma had been having tea with the Wizard at the time, and imagine their surprise when a soaking wet Lion came in, slipping and sliding across the polished floor with such terrible news.

Placing down her teacup, the Princess immediately stood up and addressed the panting and ragged Lion, “My goodness, you poor dear. Tell us what has happened.”

“Indeed and quickly,” added the Wizard, taking the matter seriously.

As quickly as he could, the Cowardly Lion sputtered out what had happened to the best of his ability, but the poor creature seemed close to passing out for he had run a very long distance in such a very short time. All four of his legs were wobbling violently as he attempted to remain standing.

“The tree of Whutter Wee?” said the Wizard thoughtfully.

“Have you heard of it?” asked Princess Ozma with much concern.

“Yes, I believe I had a conversation once with Glinda about it. It is an enchanted tree that is usually found within the Quadling country.”

“Why, that explains the red fruit,” remarked the Princess.

“Indeed, yes,” acknowledged the Wizard. “These trees are enchanted by mischievous little dwarves of course, but Glinda had told me that she had stopped them with her magic some time ago.”

“All but for this one,” coughed the Cowardly Lion who looked as if he was about to fall over.

Ozma quickly stepped over to the Lion and held his head and mane in her arms to give him comfort. “You did very good to bring us this news so swiftly, brave Lion. The Wizard must surely know how to deal with this dwarf, so you may now rest knowing that everything will be done.”

“Sounds good,” was all the Cowardly Lion could think to say before he passed out in the middle of the throne room floor.

The Wizard was already looking through his black bag which was full of his magical tools. In this bag was a little black booklet with notes he had taken back when Glinda was teaching him his craft. Flipping through these notes he came to a page and suddenly snapped his fingers. “I have the solution, Princess, but there is not much time. I require the use of the Magic Belt. You must transport me to the Tin Woodman immediately.”

“Of course, Wizard,” said Ozma who went quickly to a vault to obtain the Magic Belt. This famous belt was once owned by the evil Gnome King but had since fallen into the possession of Princess Ozma to be used for the benefit of the Land of Oz. When she returned to the throne room the fairy princess was wearing the bejeweled belt, and taking hold of each side of it she gazed upon the waiting Wizard and spoke the words, “I wish that the Wizard be transported to where the Tin Woodman is.” And in the blink of an eye the Wizard was gone.

 

Still the storm raged and still poor Nick Chopper stood with his ax raised in the air. The branches were still growing around him threatening to imprison him within them as well. Even if he could be free of his rust, he felt as if he could never manage to chop all of the ever-growing branches in time for the day was already at an end.

But just as all hope seemed to be gone, the Wizard himself appeared amidst the wind and the rain. Holding on to his hat, the little man made several knowledgeable passes of his hand and called out as loud as he could muster,

“Treason! Treason! But there’s the reason

For Glinda’s laws you have broken this season!

From out of the ground you must come once more

To make this world as good as before!

And if you fail, what punishment then

Where you’ll be banished from now unto the end!”

A pitiful scream was heard from the earth up to the sky. The mischievous dwarf that had played his tricks sprung up from out of the mud, covering his face in shame. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I meant you no harm! Let me give them back to you before it’s too late!”

“Do it now!” cried the Wizard.

The brown dwarf spun around in a circle and as he did so the storm suddenly cleared up. Also the branches began to dry up quickly and become brittle, breaking up into tiny pieces. Beneath these pieces were two forms, that of the Scarecrow and Dorothy. Both appeared to just be waking up. This was certainly a very strange sensation for the straw man who had never slept a day in his life. Although he still could not move, the Tin Woodman was very happy and pleased that he would not have to lose two of his best friends.

“Goodness gracious!” said Dorothy as she sat up. “I don’t remember a thing after climbing that tree.”

“Neither do I,” said the Scarecrow. “But it looks as if my old chum, Nick Chopper has rusted.”

The Wizard smiled and said, “He’ll be fixed up in no time. If it was not for the bravery of him and the Cowardly Lion, you two might have been lost forever.” He then turned to the blushing dwarf and said with a stern voice, “And you should go back to Glinda and seek her favor or else you really will be banished.”

“Right away!” the little man said. “Right away and without delay!” And so he ran away.

Once the Tin Woodman was oiled up, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Wizard all returned to the Emerald City. Still asleep upon the throne room floor was the Cowardly Lion. Despite him being wet, Dorothy and the Scarecrow both embraced him, waking the feline up.

“My good friends!” roared the Cowardly Lion. “I was so frightened that I had lost you both forever. I ran so fast that my feet nearly fell off my body.”

“He really did,” said Princess Ozma with a smile.

Dorothy continued to hug the Lion as she said, “There is no one braver in the Land of Oz than you, Cowardly Lion.”

“Even so,” returned the Lion shakily, “Even so, I think I’d rather just eat at the palace from now on.” Everyone laughed, and indeed a feast was being prepared at that very moment.

The end.


*****


This blog was written on March 7, 2023.

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