YoungDorothy’s best friend was her little dog, Toto. Toto made the little girl laugh, and stopped her from becoming gray, like the rest of her world. The cabin where Dorothy lived with her aunt and uncle was sad and gray, just like the prairies all around it! But Toto had brown and white fur, a tail that never stopped wagging, and lively eyes that pleaded with Dorothy to play with him.
Today, though, the little girl did not want to play. Something strange was going on, she thought, watching Uncle Henry looking anxiously at the sky, which was darker than usual.
In the distance the wind whistled. It blew ever harder, and soon it started to ripple the grass.
Uncle Henry jumped to his feet: “Em, there’s a tornado coming!” he cried to his wife.
“Quick, into the cellar!”
“This means that you have a heart. You are very lucky for I don’t have one anymore,” interrupted the Tin Woodman. “And I don’t have a brain!” said the Scarecrow. “And I want to go home. This is why we are going to the Emerald City: we are going to meet the Wizard of Oz and ask him for a brain, a heart and to send Toto and me back to Kansas,” concluded Dorothy.
“If you have no objection, I will come with you and try to talk to this wizard, to ask him to give me courage. So long as I am a coward, I will always be unhappy.”
So once again, the friends continued their journey, with the Lion striding majestically alongside Dorothy.
They had been walking for less than an hour when they reached a large chasm, very wide and very deep, with steep sides and sharp staves at the bottom. It divided the forest in two as far as the eye could see. They could see the yellow brick road continuing on the other side, but it seemed impossible to reach it!
“What are we going to do?” Dorothy asked anxiously.
“I think I can jump to the other side,” said the Lion after studying the distance carefully.
“It’s perfect! You can take us on your back one at a time,” cried the Scarecrow. “I’ll go first, because I am made of straw and even if I fall it won’t hurt.”
“Fall? Don’t make me think about it, I’m scared enough as it is! Very well, get on my back!”
The Scarecrow climbed on his back and grabbed two locks of his mane. The Lion crouched on the edge of the abyss and then, with a great leap, flew over the ditch and landed safely on the other side.
“It was easy,” he admitted, jumping back across. “Whose turn is it now?”
“I’ll go!” said Dorothy, picking up Toto. A moment later, she seemed to be flying, and before she had time to be afraid, she found himself on the other side.
Finally, it was the turn of the Tin Woodman. Then they all sat down in safety for a few minutes waiting for the Lion to recover from all those mighty leaps, which had left him breathless and with his tongue hanging out. On that side of the chasm, the forest was dark and thick, and the little group of friends went slowly, waiting for the Tin Woodman as he cut the branches that barred their way.
The Winkies gathered it up and began patiently to stuff Scarecrow and sew his clothes back together, and at last his friends welcomed him back with smiles and tears of emotion. Hearing the story of all that had happened, the Scarecrow exclaimed, “If the Witch is dead, we can return to the Emerald City and ask Oz to keep his promise!”
“Let’s leave tomorrow morning! What do you think?” suggested Dorothy, and that is what they decided to do.
But the Winkies begged the Tin Woodman to stay and govern their land. The tin man was very tempted by the offer, and promised to return as soon as he had received his new heart from Oz.
Now the Winkies, resigned, loaded the friends with gifts, and gave to Dorothy, their savior, the most precious gift of all, the Golden Cap, explaining how to use it to summon the Winged Monkeys three times. Dorothy was very upset. “I’m not a witch, I don’t know what to do with such powerful magic!” she exclaimed. Once more, it was the Scarecrow who had a good idea. “We could use it to command the Winged Monkeys to carry us to the Emerald City!” he exclaimed.
“We would be in Oz in a matter of a few hours.” Dorothy agreed and recited the magic formula.
Immediately the sun went in and the Winged Monkeys appeared from behind the clouds. The King of the Monkeys bowed deeply and asked, “What is your command?”
“We want to go to the Emerald City”
“We will carry you! Climb up!” Dorothy and her friends hauled themselves onto the backs of the Winged Monkeys and they rose into the air.
The girl could never have imagined that flying could be such fun and she was a little disappointed that the journey was so brief. In fact, after only a short time, the friends glimpsed the shimmering walls of the Emerald City.
After once again putting on the glasses that the Guardian of the Gate gave them, the four friends crossed the city to the Throne Room. When they entered the palace, the guard was speechless. This strange group had managed to kill the terrible Witch of the West? He must tell the Powerful Oz right away!
The guard disappeared into the Throne Room and returned hours later, asking the four travelers to go in all together.
“Come back!” cried Dorothy. “I need to get on! I have to come with you!”
“I can’t come back my dear, I’m sorry! Farewell!” cried Oz as the balloon rose high into the sky. Soon the green balloon disappeared behind a cloud, and that was the last she saw of the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz. For all we know he might have returned home safe and sound and perhaps at this very moment he is enchanting the circus audience with his ventriloquist act. Everyone stared for a long time at the cloud behind which he had disappeared, singing his praises with affection: “He was always good to us,” they said. “And he left the wise Scarecrow to govern us.” But Dorothy could not stop weeping, seeing that her hopes of returning home had been dashed. She was so sad that the Tin Woodman was deeply moved, and risked becoming rusty with his tears. The Scarecrow became sad too, and he invited the friends to join him in the Throne Room to try to console Dorothy and to talk about everything that had happened that day.
“When I think that only a few days ago I was hanging from a pole in the middle of a field and now I am master of this splendid city and this beautiful palace, I simply cannot believe our luck!” exclaimed the Scarecrow from the Throne on which he sat.
“We can live here happily together if Dorothy wanted to stay in the Emerald City,” he added. “But I don’t want to stay here!” bawled the little girl, holding Toto tight in her arms. “I want to go back to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry!”
“What can we do to help her?” asked the Lion. The Scarecrow started to think over the question and thought so long and so hard that his pins started to make holes in his fabric. “Why not call the Winged Monkeys?” he suggested at last. Dorothy perked up when she heard these words: “A brilliant idea! Scarecrow, your new brain is working perfectly,” and, smiling for the first time in hours, Dorothy put on the Golden Cap and called the King of the Monkeys, who at once came in the window and stood before her. “This is the second time that you have called on us,” said the King. “What is your command?”
“I WANT TO RETURN HOME TO MY AUNT AND UNCLE. CAN YOU HELP ME CROSS THE GREAT DESERT?”
The King of the Monkeys shook his head. “I’m sorry but I can’t do that. We belong to this land. We can’t leave.”
“So there is no-one who can help me,” said Dorothy, drying the tears that were running down her cheeks once more.
“Perhaps Glinda can help you,” replied the King of the Monkeys. “Who is Glinda?” asked the Tin Woodman.
“She is the Witch of the South, the most powerful of all four of the witches who ruled the lands around the Emerald City. She rules over the Quadlings, and her palace lies right on the edge of the desert. But getting there is not easy. The road to the south is full of dangers, wild beasts, and strange creatures. Good luck,” concluded the Winged Monkey before flying away through the window.
“I will go south with Dorothy. After all, I owe my courage to her,” said the Lion. “It’s true,” agreed the Tin Woodman. “Without her I would still be rusted stiff in the woods. I’m coming with you too.”
“We’ll all go,” said the Scarecrow. “Thank you, my friends,” whispered Dorothy gratefully. Then she stopped weeping, got up and smoothed her skirt, saying, “Let’s leave right away!”
Soon the little group was once more on the road and came to the city gate where the Guardian took off their green glasses and wished them good luck on their journey, saying to the Scarecrow, “You’ll come back soon, won’t you? Now you are our ruler and we need your wisdom.”
“I will be back as soon as Dorothy has found her way home,” the Scarecrow reassured him. The four friends headed south, laughing and chatting. The sun was shining and Dorothy felt renewed hope that she would be able to return to her aunt and uncle. The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow were happy to be able to help, and the Lion and Toto were happy to be able to run free in the wildflower meadows. They kept on walking until they reached a dense forest, where they came to a halt, as they looked for a way through the trees. The Scarecrow walked up to a large oak tree, but as soon as he bent to pass under its branches, they reached down and twined around his body, lifted him up, and threw him into the meadow.
The Scarecrow was well padded, and he was not hurt, but when the branches grabbed Toto, the dog began to yelp in pain.
THE TIN WOODMAN WENT UP TO IT AND SWUNG HIS AX WITH A BLOW SO STRONG THAT HE CUT THE BRANCH IN TWO
Immediately the tree raised all its branches and began to shake them as if crying in rage and pain. The four friends rushed under the tree and passed by unscathed. Dorothy made sure that Toto was not hurt and then, holding him tightly in her arms, she joined her friends, who were making their way through the forest, where no more trees tried to attack them.
“But what happened? Why did that big oak try to stop us?” asked the little girl, who was still afraid.
“I think it was a guardian of the forest,” explained the Tin Woodman. “It is a tree with special powers whose task is to keep out strangers.”
Mulling over their strange adventure, the four friends reached the edge of the woods and there they saw something that surprised them very much.
MANUELA ADREANI, born in Rome but now resident in Turin. After taking a diploma specializing in illustration, she worked as a graphic artist and then progressed to the world of animation. After winning a scholarship for a master course in animation at Turin’s IED, she worked for the Lastrego e Testa studio on TV series produced and broadcast by Italy’s RAI television: Le avventure di Aladino, Amita della Giungla and also on La Creazione, based on the book by Carlo Fruttero. In 2011 she embarked on a career as a freelance illustrator, working with Benchmarck and Scholastic India. She was one of the winners of the illustration contest organized for the 130th anniversary of the creation of Pinocchio. In 2013, she produced the volumes Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland for White Star.
Adaptation of the text GIADA FRANCIA Graphic design MARINELLA DEBERNARDI
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Translation and editing: Contextus s.r.l., Pavia, Italy (Louise Bostock)
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