The Wishing Horse Of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Author:L. Frank Baum [Baum, L. Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult, Oz, Fiction
Published: 2011-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

BLACK MAGIC

Dorothy and Pigasus were hustled into the Black Castle, rushed down its

shiny black corridors and thrust into a great, dark, dome-shaped room so

quickly they had no opportunity to exchange a word.

"Well, anyway, even if it is a darkroom, we can still see," whispered

Dorothy as the foresters in their haste to get away from such dangerous

prisoners fairly tumbled over each other to get through the door.

"Yes," puffed Pigasus glumly as the key rasped in the lock, "and the first

thing I see is that there are no windows. If there was a window we could

fly off. As it is, this witch will make short work of us."

"I wonder how much magic she really knows," sighed Dorothy, seating herself

wearily on a black velvet20stool.

"I wonder!" said Pigasus, flinging himself crossly on the floor beside her.

"And what's all this stuff about your being her worst enemy? Did you really

destroy two witches, and could you destroy her?" Although Pigasus had lived

in the Emerald City for several years, he was not familiar with all of the

history that had taken place before his arrival.

"Oh, all that happened when I first came here," explained Dorothy, clasping

her knees with both hands. "You see, when the cyclone blew me from Kansas

to Oz, my house fell on the wicked witch who ruled the Munchkins and killed

her. The Munchkins, supposing I had done it on purpose, came out and

thanked me and gave me the witch's silver shoes. Then, when I reached the

Emerald City and begged the Wizard, who was ruler of Oz at that time, to

send me back to Kansas, he promised to do so if I killed the wicked witch

who ruled the Winkies."

"And did you?" asked Pigasus, rolling over and looking up at Dorothy with

real admiration.

"Well, that was sort of an accident, too," admitted the little girl

honestly. "When the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion and I

reached the witch's yellow castle, the witch captured us all and made me

work hard from morning till night. But one day," Dorothy with an anxious

eye on the door hurriedly continued, "one day when she tried to steal my

silver shoes, I got SO mad I picked up a bucket of water I'd been using for

scrubbing and flung it right over her head."

"And did that destroy her?" Pigasus demanded incredulously.

"Yes," said Dorothy, "it melted her down to nothing at all."

"But what about the star? I never noticed that before."

"That's where the Good Witch of the North comes in," answered Dorothy

proudly. "Right after my house fell on the Wicked Witch of the West, she

appeared, and when she discovered I was a mortal, she kissed me on the

forehead to keep me from harm all the time I was in Oz. It only shows now

because I'm black, I suppose."

"Well, why didn't it keep you from turning black, if it's so wonderful?"

Pigasus switched his curly tail resentfully.

"I don't know." Dorothy looked thoughtfully around Gloma's strange

laboratory. "Maybe the spell has worn off; maybe there's no harm in being

black."

"Humph! There may not be any harm in it, but it's pretty sad and mournful,

if you ask me," grunted Pigasus, glaring savagely at his satiny black

sides.

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