Chapter Five
BIRTHDAY PRESENTS FOR OZMA
Or course, dear readers, you remember
Dorothy, the little girl from the great Kansas prairie. And I hope you
remember her dear friend Ozma, the ruler of the Land of Oz.
Dorothy often came to the Emerald City
to visit Ozma and to see her other dear friends: the Scarecrow, the Tin
Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Wizard of Oz. You remember that he wanted
to fly away in a balloon. Well, the balloon fell down not far from the Emerald
City and the Wizard came back. But he was not very sorry. He decided to study
magic, because he did not want to be a humbug. Ozma gave him three rooms in
her palace and he studied magic there. Now he really knew some magic.
One morning Dorothy took a walk in
Ozma's beautiful garden.
"What can I give Ozma for her
birthday?" Dorothy thought.
Suddenly Dorothy saw the Tin Woodman
in the garden.
"What will you give Ozma for her
birthday?" she asked.
"It's a secret," answered the Tin
Woodman. "But I can tell you. I have a song for her. I can tell you the words
with which the song begins. Listen!
"I am crazy, l
You
are a daisy, 2
Ozma dear!
You are a nice and beautiful fairy,
May your birthdays all be happy, 3
Ozma dear!"
"Well, how do you like it, Dorothy?"
asked the Tin Woodman.
"Is it good poetry?" asked Dorothy.
She did not like the song.
"Of course, it is!" said the Tin
Woodman. "I shall call it like this: 'When Ozma has a birthday we are all
happy because we love dear Ozma very, very much."
"I think it is very long," said
Dorothy.
"I don't think so," said the Tin
Woodman. "And what are YOU going to give Ozma for her birthday?"
"I don't know," said Dorothy. "But I
want to give her a very nice present!"
Dorothy said good-bye to the Tin
Woodman and walked to the back of the palace. There she saw the Scarecrow.
"Are you going to give Ozma a present
for her birthday?" she asked.
"Of course, I am," said the
Scarecrow."
"What are you going to give her?" said
Dorothy.
"I am making a pair of straw shoes for
her," answered the Scarecrow. "Ozma must like straw, because she likes ME very
much. She knows that my body is made of straw and I think she will like these
nice straw shoes."
"And what can I give her for her
birthday?" asked Dorothy.
"Oh, I don't know," said the
Scarecrow. "Think hard, Dorothy, think very hard, and a good idea will come to
you."
So Dorothy went to her room, where she
sat down and thought hard about a birthday present for Ozma's birthday.
She thought and thought. Then she saw
Toto and asked him:
"What can I give Ozma for her
birthday?"
"Oh, give her some bones," said the
dog. "It will be a great present for her!"
"A bone is a good present for a dog,
but not for a Fairy," said Dorothy. "I see I must think hard again."
Dorothy thought and thought and
suddenly an idea came to her. She went to the Wizard of Oz. He was glad to see
Dorothy.
"Wizard," said Dorothy, "will you help
me to make a birthday present for Ozma?"
"I shall be very glad to do what I can
for you and for Ozma," he answered.
"I want to make a great cake," said
Dorothy. "And in the middle of it I am going to hide a lot of very small
monkeys. We shall put the cake on the table. Then the monkeys will get out of
the cake. They will dance on the table around the cake. And then Ozma will cut
the cake."
"That's very clever, really very
clever, my dear," said the Wizard and laughed. "But your monkeys must be very,
very small. Where will you get such small monkeys?"
"I hope," said Dorothy, "that you will
help me. In the big forest there are a lot of monkeys." "Big monkeys," said
the Wizard. "Well," said Dorothy. "This is my plan: you and I go to that
forest. There we shall catch some big monkeys. Then you will make them small.
We shall put those small monkeys in a basket and bring them home. After that
you will teach them how to dance. It will be our secret. And on Ozma's
birthday we shall put them all into the cake. They will know by that time what
they must do."
"All right," said the Wizard, "I think
I can do what you want me to do. I am ready to go with you. Let's take the
Cowardly Lion with us. We shall go to the forest on his back and he will roar
and frighten all the beasts there."
1 I am crazy -Я без
ума (от вас)
2 You are a daisy - Вы
просто душенька
3 May your birthdays
all be happy — зд. Желаю вам счастливых дней рожденья