Page 2 of 4
More Books
More by this Author
|
One morning Dorothy crossed the hall of the palace and knocked on
the door of another girl named Trot, also a guest and friend of Ozma.
When told to enter, Dorothy found that Trot had company, an old
sailor-man with one wooden leg and one meat leg, who was sitting by
the open window puffing smoke from a corn-cob pipe. This sailor-man
was named Cap'n Bill, and he had accompanied Trot to the Land of Oz
and was her oldest and most faithful comrade and friend. Dorothy
liked Cap'n Bill, too, and after she had greeted him, she said to Trot:
"You know, Ozma's birthday is next month, and I've been wondering
what I can give here as a birthday present. She's so good to us all
that we certainly ought to remember her birthday."
"That's true," agreed Trot. "I've been wondering, too, what I could
give Ozma. It's pretty hard to decide, 'cause she's got already all
she wants, and as she's a fairy and knows a lot about magic, she could
satisfy any wish."
"I know," returned Dorothy, "but that isn't the point. It isn't
that Ozma NEEDS anything, but that it will please her to know we've
remembered her birthday. But what shall we give her?"
Trot shook her head in despair.
"I've tried to think and I can't," she declared.
"It's the same way with me," said Dorothy.
"I know one thing that 'ud please her," remarked Cap'n Bill, turning
his round face with its fringe of whiskers toward the two girls and
staring at them with his big, light-blue eyes wide open.
"What is it, Cap'n Bill?"
|