[This blog contains spoilers for a book nobody reads anymore.]
"The Wizard of Way-Up and Other Wonders" is the seventy-fourth book in the Oz series, originally created by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Ruth Plumly Thompson and published in 1985. It contains a lot of short stories and poems written by the author over the course of her life and even contains a few Oz stories. Lucky you! I am going to review every single one of them! Let's get crackin'!
*****
"The Wizard of Way-Up"
This would be the first and perhaps main story of the book. It features the most busybody wizard I have ever read about, who is named Woff. Basically you have king who doesn't want his daughter to marry and a wizard who disagrees. So the Wizard sends pictures to a bunch of kings in hopes that they will travel up to their mountain kingdom to marry the king's daughter.
I'm not sure what was even in it for the Wizard. It just sort of popped in his head one day, and he took matters into his own hands. And it did not even go all that well. He ended up attracting the ugly king of the marshes who traveled on the back of pigs. He was an evil something-or-other too.
Without going into too many spoilers, it is very much a good story that goes into the concepts of true love and what makes a good husband. I just think it's funny that the wizard just went out of his way to cause so much trouble and then almost immediately regretted it. Ever been in that sort of situation?
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"Birds Don't Peel Their Feathers"
A short poem about the fact that animals don't have to undress when they bathe, yet we still have to.
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"The Magic Cloak"
An interesting poem about an elf who invents a magical cloak that allows normal people to see and even travel through the many fairy realms. At the end of the poem, he tosses it into our world to be found. I imagine this cloak would also allow someone to find Oz.
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"Baby!"
A very short poem about how special babies are.
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"Rockinghorse Hill"
A really fun poem about a secret mansion that housed old broken-down toys. Like if you have a toy that was overplayed with by little girls and boys, they end up at that mansion. I really liked this one. It had some cool imagery to it, and it would have made a nice full story too. Imagine Toy Story if all the toys were falling apart because the children loved them too damn much.
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"The Jack of Spades"
This is a fairly nonsensical poem about a playing card that keeps leaving the desk to tend a secret garden. It was kind of silly, but it was written well enough. It kind of reminds me of some of the Mother Goose rhymes, just a little bit longer.
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"The Enchanted Hat"
A short story about a boy who trades his hat for one that allows him to fly. The problem is that he can't take it off, and he can't get rid of it unless he trades it to someone for their hat. It's a good enchanted item story. How do you trick someone into taking your annoying hat when you aren't the type to do that to people? Good story with a good ending.
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"Autumn"
A cute and simple poem about autumn.
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"An Ozzy Adventure"
Hey, we made it back to Oz, folks! Although this is actually a narrative poem. It's good though! It tells the story of the Cowardly Lion who was going on a little adventure, but while he was sleeping a jerk of a dwarf shows up and clips off his entire mane.
When he woke up, he was mortified by how he looked and felt, so he was forced to hide away until it grew back. The whole thing was so embarrassing that he never told anyone in the Emerald City what happened, but the author points out that the reader will still know. Cute.
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"Sunday Morning"
A short poem about going to church on Sunday. It was fine, but there isn't much to really say about it.
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"The Prince of Gelatin Isles"
This is a long poem about a world made of dessert food. Even the people seem to be made this way. I'll be honest... I didn't like it. It would have been better if it had been regular prose. I got bored and a little annoyed while reading it.
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"The Bright Lad and the Giant"
I liked this one. It was about a really clever boy that could not quite get a king to part with his daughter because he was poor. So he goes to live with a giant and sort of organizes a situation where he can end up with the giant's gold. Without going too much into it, the telling of this story reminds me a little of those Fractured Fairy Tales that used to appear on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Remember those?
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"Winter"
Winter has spread his frosting
Thick as icing on a cake'
O'er towns and fields and hills
And made a mirror of the lake.
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"The Ray Knights"
A narrative poem about these knights that fight off dust clouds in the sky. It actually states they live on a sky island which could mean they are actually in a world above Oz. Can't say for sure though.
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"Perhappsy Adventures"
This was two poems about a couple of fairies called the Perhappsies. The first one was called "The Toys in the Land of Play." In this one the two Perhappsies enter an abandoned room full of toys and play with them, since nobody else seems to. The toys also come to life as this happens as well.
The second poem was called "The Fairies' Dance." It was a simple story about the Perhappsies running into a parade of dancing fairies. They join in the fun, but that's about all there is to it.
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"The Magic Tree"
This is a short story about a boy who catches some old men messing around with a tree. They tell him that the tree is magic, but they were really just burying their treasure. His decedents figure that out later on when it finally falls over. Honestly, this one wasn't very good. I predicted what was going on within the first few paragraphs.
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"The Wizard's Christmas Invention"
This is an Oz poem. The Wizard of Oz invents a Christmas Tree that magically trims itself and sprouts presents for everyone in Oz. Pretty cool little poem. I enjoyed it.
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"A Comical State O' Things"
Very clever! This is a poem about funny wordplay. Basically, you take a list of things that have common describers, such as a bed of pumpkins, the eyes of a potato, and the tongue of a shoe, and then the poem uses these to make up a little boy. The title is also kind of a pun with the word "state" meaning both "situation" and "manner of speaking." I loved this one.
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"Higgelty Piggelty"
Not bad! It was a short poem about a town where everything happens backwards, such as having dinner before breakfast. It is one of the better nonsensical poems I have read.
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"The Cloud's Lullaby"
A poem about clouds.
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"A Sea Santa"
A poem about a Santa Clause that delivers presents to all the undersea fairy creatures like mermaids and such. Cute idea. Would have enjoyed a whole story for it, but sadly this is all I have.
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"What Happened to the Scarecrow"
Just to be clear, this isn't the Scarecrow from Oz. This poem was about an ordinary scarecrow that is feeling bored and dejected from just hanging there all the time. Some little fairies come by, shrink him down, and take him with them. I liked it!
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"How Time Flies"
A short and punny poem about time turning into butterflies, literally making them fly off to fairyland.
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"The Wizard and His Purple Beard"
This is a simple story about a wizard who had a beard so purple that it prevented him from reasonably performing his evil magic. Like when he would turn invisible, the beard still showed. The story is okay, but what is really interesting here is that the story takes place in Pumperdink a few years before it was introduced to the Gillikin Country of Oz. It made sense to put it in the north since the country's color was purple. Pumperdink ended up being a very important kingdom within Oz that was dealt with in many of the books.
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"The Artist and the Cow"
This was a bit shocking and unexpected. "The Artist and the Cow" is a light-hearted and silly poem about an artist who painted a grassy field so realistic that it attracted a cow who ate the entire thing. At first it comes across as silly because the artist realizes that he cannot get his super realistic painting back, but then the cow suddenly rolls over and dies, "sacrificing her life for art." What the heck?! This is a bit more morbid than what usually gets written by this author.
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"Adventures of the China Chaps"
A quirky poem about a Chinese sailing vessel that was full of rice and other ingredients. Right after leaving the dock, a typhoon hits them and wrecks the ship. However, the ingredients all mix with the water and turn it all into pudding, basically saving the crew. It was cute.
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"The Land of Nod"
This is a brief poem that talks about a land where everything is alive, even things like clocks and chairs. Ruth seems to really like the idea of toys coming to life. I keep running into this theme in her poetry.
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"Seeress of Saucerville"
This is a short story about a king trying to get his daughter to marry, but nobody is good enough. Now, at the same time, there is a seeress that everyone actually wants to marry, and she doesn't want any of them. Interestingly enough, because she is a seer, she knows that the one she shall marry will be a man who falls off his horse near where she lives. So she advises the king to have this man named Questor to impress the Princess by riding one of his most terrible horses. This just leads to him falling off and landing near the Seeress. She then approaches him, mends his wounds, and then they later get married.
It looks a bit like the Seeress is tampering around with her own fate, but either way, it seems to work out for everyone.
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"A Funny Little Beast"
I met a funny little beast
Half flying and half hopping
'Twas part a bird and part a frog.
"Who are you?" I asked, stopping.
It cocked its funny little head
And looked off down the road.
"Why, can't you see," it said to me,
"That I'm a pigeon-toad!"
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"Tales of King Kojo"
This was cool and probably the real reason I wanted to read this book in the first place. "Tales of King Kojo" acts as an extra three chapters to the original book. The stories are listed as "The Wiseman of Og," "The Wizard of Whatintot," and "A Wiseman Brings His Presents to the King." All three are great.
The wiseman ended up being a dog with two tales. Even though he can't talk, he can still predict things. He ends up loosely being the focus of all three chapters more or less. What really gets me is that if I had not spent the money to buy "King Kojo," some of the information in these chapters would have confused me. They really act as a continuation of a book that just isn't easily available anymore.
The sad thing is that I think this is all of King Kojo there is after this. It's really too bad. I love that entire universe and I would have loved to seen more coming from it. Although a much smaller and focused universe, it is still comparable to Oz in theme and presentation. Very likely Ruth's greatest work.
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"An English Garden"
A well-written poem about the joys of being in an English garden. But... eh... not really my cup of tea.
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"The Sailmender of Dover"
Delightful! This is a story about an old sailmender who would always save the rats his wife always tried to trap. His heart just couldn't bear the suffering of any animals. Well, the rats remembered this. He was later thrown into prison when he couldn't pay the rent, and so the rats all formed an army and gnawed their way into his prison so that he could escape. Really a lovely tale.
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"Princess White Mouse"
A cute poem about a white mouse who falls in love with a brown miller mouse. She is only supposed to marry white mice, but he got away with it by being covered in flour.
Also as an aside, I wanna point out that this poem was illustrated and I just absolutely hated the picture. I am happy that the story was good, at least.
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"The Lad Who Found His Fortune"
A king doesn't want his daughter to marry so he makes an unreasonable challenge that the man who marries his daughter must obtain his fortune in only one hour and without traveling abroad. A minstrel takes on the challenge and manages to make both the princess and king very happy with his music, and it only takes an hour for her to fall in love with him.
Honestly, I am starting to see a theme here with kings not wanting to let go of their daughters. That was also the theme of the previous story as well as "The Wizard of Way-Up." It must have been something Ruth thought about a lot.
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"The Little Light Fairy"
In a Crystal Palace fine and fast
The Little Light Fairy is caught at last!
And there she glows and gleams at night,
Filling the world with fairy light.
Aho --- some night --- perchance --- perchance
You may yourself see this fairy dance!
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"The Little Gray People Who Come Out at Night"
A cute poem about little mice who come out at night and kinda just act like we do for a while. They run around, play, and make things out of our stuff. I got the impression it took place in a classroom, which is why nobody was there. It was cute.
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"The Flask with the Golden Stopper"
This was a very good fairytale. It felt a little like a short Oz story, mainly because it involved a boy getting whisked away from America into a fantasy world.
The story was about Stevie, a 10-year-old boy from New Jersey. He finds a bottle while fishing that inflates and takes him to a fantasy kingdom. The king there has terrible headaches and has ordered everyone to be completely quiet. Noise is illegal.
The boy quickly gets caught for making noise, but he soon finds out that the prime minister sent the bottle to find a boy who could solve the king's problems. As it turns out, the king's crown was just too tight. It was a simple problem, but apparently too complicated for anyone but a 10-year-old boy to figure out. I thought this story was charming and fun to read.
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"A Fairy Fact"
When fairies lose their foresight
And can't see away ahead
They don't use specs, they slip on big
Expectacles, instead.
And with expectacles, dear heart,
One sees things long before they start.
(Wish I had a pair.)
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"Rob Rabbit"
An extremely good poem! I think this is my favorite so far, since most of the poems in this book tend to be kind of dry. This was a long poem about a rabbit highwayman. Get it? "Rob" rabbit? It's a pun!
It details how Rob stole various things from different animals such as the turtle's shell and a sheep's wool. He wouldn't mess with a skunk though! As bad as he was, he ends up finding a cute, little bunny girl, who ends up stealing his heart. They get married, and he stops robbing people.
This was a very clever, cute, and fun poem to read.
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"The Sensible Goose"
A cute poem about a goose that exercised to keep herself from getting fat. In this way, no fox would ever want to eat her.
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"Supposyville Stories"
This is a collection of three narrative poems about the fairy kingdom of Supposyville. The first one (my least favorite) was called "Pink Mondays in Supposyville" which was a very silly story about how the men should do the laundry on Mondays. They were also putting "pink" into the laundry as apposed to "blue," which confused me a bit. It seemed more about just getting men to do the laundry once in a while... or something.
The second story was called "A Wicked Stranger's Visit to Supposyville." This one was interesting. Imagine if you lived in an actual fairy kingdom and someone from the outside walked in and said that you weren't real. That's exactly what happened in this story. His name was Dull Facts, and they threw him right out on his ass. I liked it!
The third story was simply called "A New Invention," and it was sort of a joke coupled with a punchline. The wiseman of Supposyville, who was called Sir Solomon Tremendous Wise, says he made a new invention which ended up just being a fishing rod intended for the king. But when the king takes it out to use it, he never catches anything for an entire day. The idea was that Sir Solomon wanted to make a much safer fishing rod, but it was only safe for the fish. Funny!
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"Lucky Peter"
I liked this one. Hilariously, this is about an orphan nobody wanted because his name was too long. The story says his name began with Peter Ludwig Vanderveehten Hohenbrummer Pam--- and then went on for several more minutes. I love that.
So hated this boy was for his long name, that his foster parent tries to kill him by making him accidently fall off of a windmill. But a stork catches this and saves the boy. He also wings the foster parent for good measure.
So the stork takes the boy to live with him and his wife on top of a house. They teach him how to stand on one leg and cover his face with his arm, but they can't seem to convince him to fly. Finally, the stork wife whacks him to get him to fly, but he just ends up falling into a chimney. This was, however, a house full of rich people! He ended up having a great life after that! Yes, Peter was very lucky! Haha!
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"The Enchanted Tree of Oz"
An Oz story! Well, don't get your hopes up too high, because this one is a bit broken. I'm not mad, but I do need to explain what's going on here. But firstly, I do wanna say that this story actually has a cover drawn by Dick Martin. It was cool!
So in this story, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion are all just having a walk and talking about how they first met. They get a little tired and Dorothy gets hungry, so they detour into a forest looking for food.
They find a tree with fruit and the Scarecrow climbs up to get it, but the branches grow out, causing him to disappear. Nobody can hear him either.
Now, here there is a page missing from the story, but there is an editor's explanation that Dorothy goes up too and is similarly lost. This is only the first way this story is broken. The second way is a doozy.
The Tin Woodman finally decides to just chop the tree down, but when he does this, a dwarf appears and says that he needs to chop up the entire tree before nightfall or else he will lose his friends forever. Panicking, the Tin Woodman begins chopping the tree up as much as he can, but it keeps growing as he is chopping it. The Cowardly Lion runs off towards the Emerald City to get help. And then it rains! It rains, and now the Tin Woodman freezes up. So what happens?
Whelp! Nothing. Nothing happens. Apparently, this was a contest story. People were supposed to write their conclusion to the story so that it could be printed. Sadly, whatever the winning ending was has also been lost. This story will always be a rather frightening unfinished Oz adventure. Crazy, huh?
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"The Apple Pie Princess"
A cute narrative poem about the prince of Pumperdink (a country in Oz) who goes missing. Everyone tries to find him, but nobody can. But apparently a girl makes an apple pie so tasty that he just sort of comes back... for the pie... and then marries her. Yep, that's pretty much it.
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"The Wizard of Way-Up and King Ripitik the Tenth"
This may very well be the best story in the whole book. It is the actual sequel to the original "The Wizard of Way-Up." King Ripitik decides he wants to visit his daughter who was married in the first story, but he doesn't want to use magic to get there. He wants to walk there like regular people no matter how bad things get.
Woff the wizard absolutely hates this idea. All he has to do is just cast a spell and teleport them, but instead he is forced to endure all sorts of bad things along the way, simply because his king is way too adventurous for his own good.
And, hoo boy, do they deal with some bad crap along the way. King Ripitik is such a naive silly person! He is just so forgiving! He takes every bad situation and tries to find the fun in it. Meanwhile Woff is miserable. He just likes to be comfortable.
I loved this one. This story alone makes the whole book worth getting.
*****
That's it! Although the book is very hit and miss, I still recommend it mainly for the Wizard of Way-Up and the few King Kojo stories. They are really good and still fun to read as an adult. Not much Oz content here, but it was nice to see some of it show up. Whelp! One more to go!
This blog was written on February 26, 2023.
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