THE LOST KEY
OF OZ
Rough
Draft/Outline
By
Founded on and continuing the Famous Oz
Stories
By
L.
FRANK BAUM
RUTH
PLUMLY THOMPSON
&
JOHN
R. NEILL
“Royal Historians of Oz”
Boston
The
Lost Key of Oz
Copyright
1999 by
Lodestone
Press
Printed
in the United States of America by
Lodestone
Press
Arlington
Massachusetts
2000
‘Neath
these rolling waves of green
Lie
treasures quite unseen
A
mermaid’s castle hidden in the deep
A
wooden whale that likes to leap
All
this and more
You
shall see
As
this book
Is
read to thee
LIST
OF CHAPTERS
Prologue
1
- The Secret Glade
2
- Puff-puff and Bluebell
3
- The Secret Gate
4
- Glimpee in Oz
5
- The Terrible Telebubbles
6
- The Mixed-up Cavern
7
- Davy Jones’ Locker
8
- An Octopus’ Garden
9
- The Undersea Palace
10
- The Sea of Green
11
- The Ice-Cream Pirates of Oz
12
- The Royal Navy of Oz
13
- The Crescent Moon
14
- The Wall of Water
15
- The Sea of Pink
16
- The Burning Desert
17
- The Castle in the Air
18
- The City of Emeralds
19
- Ozymandius of Oz
20
- The Shifting Sands
21
- Glimpee’s Dilemma
22
- Just Say Oz
Prologue
5,000 Years Ago
Once
upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom of rolling hills and lusucious
woodlands which lay in the middle of an emerald green sea. This land and its people were watched over
and ruled by a kindly young man – Prince Ozymandius.
One day, Ozymandius
was strolling through the gardens of the brand new Royal Palace when his good
friend, the fairy Lurline, flew down from the sky to say hello.
(Describe
appearances?)
“Hello, Ozymandius,”
she said.
“Hello, Lurline,”
said Prince Ozymandius. “How are you
today?”
“I’m doing very
well,” replied Lurline, “thank you for asking.
How is your staff working?”
“Extremely
well. Thank you again for such an
amazing gift.”
“You’re
welcome. And the key?”
“It is safely
hidden, and will remain so.”
“Good. And how are you? You seem a bit nervous.”
“Well, it looks like
it’s finally happened,” he replied, “They’re going to crown me king tomorrow -
I hope I’ll be a good one.”
“I am sure that you
will be – they couldn’t have made a better choice.” said Lurline with a
smile. “After all that you’ve done for
this land, you truly deserve it. I
wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up naming this entire country after you
some day.”
“Perhaps, but I
couldn’t have done any of it without you, Lurline. They should really be making you queen, instead of making me
king. And there still remains one
crucial task yet to complete.”
“I have the utmost
faith in your abilities. Besides, I
have obligations elsewhere and am not able to be queen here. But I will continue to help when I can.”
“Thank you. I am eternally in your debt.”
“As I am in
yours. Goodbye, Ozymandius.”
“Goodbye Lurline.”
And with that,
Lurline flew back up into the sky and home to the land of the fairies.
Ozymandius then
rapped the ground with the end of his magic staff and disappeared in a puff of
smoke.
(Mention Ozlanteans
someplace?)
Chapter One
The Secret Gate
Glimpee was a young
boy who lived on the edge of the forest with his Aunt Blimpee. Early one morning, Glimpee decided to take a
stroll through the woods. He would
often do this on nice days, and today was particularly beautiful. The sky was clear, it was neither too hot
nor too cold, and there was a light breeze blowing softly through the leaves.
He packed himself a
lunch of watercress sandwiches, put on his favorite blue tunic and walking hat,
and set out down one of the many paths through the woods.
Glimpee walked with
a spring in his step and breathed in the crisp morning air. The birds in the trees were singing and the
sun was smiling down on him.
As he walked, he
marveled at the many different types of trees and flowers that were in
bloom. He could make out ferns in the
underbrush and as he continued further down the path, the ferns started to get
larger and larger. The woods was hilly
and sometimes the path would wind one way around a hill, and sometimes the
other way around a hill. Occasionaly,
the path would go straight up the side of a hill and then down the other side.
He began to notice
that not only did the ferns get larger, but that the trees were getting larger
as well. When he had first entered the
forest, he could have easily put his arms all the way around the trunks of the
trees if he had desired, but that he could barely get his arms even half way
around the trees in this part of the woods.
The flowers in this part of the forest were as tall as his waist.
He realized that he
was in a part of the woods that he had never been in before. Glimpee was often discovering new parts of
the forest on his walks and appreciated discovering new wonders of the woods.
He strolled down a
small hill and caught the music of a bubbling brook off to his right. He turned off the path and walked downhill
through the ferns towards it. After a
brief walk, he came across a small stream that was just a tad too wide for him to
step across. He followed it downstream,
enjoying the sound of the water running over and around the small rocks that
were in the stream.
He eventually came
to a place where the stream widened out into a small pool in the middle of a
glade. There was a set of rocks that
were close enough together for him to use as stepping stones across the water
so he decided to try crossing the stream here.
He stepped out onto the first rock.
It was firm beneath his foot, so he continued following them out into
the pool. The water here was very
shallow and the bed of the stream was covered with small pebbles of many
different colors. About halfway across,
Glimpee caught a glimpse of something glittering beneath the water. At first he thought it was a fish, but it didn’t
move. He continued to step from stone
to stone and when he came to the glimmer, he stopped to see if he could
discover what it was.
He bent down to
reach into the water. As he did so, his
hat almost fell off, but he managed to grab ahold of it in time and held it
onto his head. “Whew!” he exclaimed, “I
sure am glad I didn’t lose my hat.”
He reached into the
water again, more carefully this time.
It was slightly chilly but not so much that it hurt. He brushed some of the pebbles away with his
hand and saw something golden amongst the pebbles and small rocks. He picked it up, pulled it out of the water,
and examined it. It was a key.
Glimpee was very
excited. He had never found a key
before! It was a skeleton key, golden
in color, about 4 inches long with a strange design on the (handle?) that
consisted of a circle with three lines in it.
Two of these lines went straight across the circle and the third one was
slanted and connected the first two at opposite ends.
“This looks
important,” he said to himself. “I’d
better try to find whoever lost it so that I can return it to its proper
owner.”
He dried the key on
his tunic and put it in his pocket along with the two buttons and short piece
of string that he already had.
He continued
crossing to the over side of the stream.
Once he was across, he turned around to admire the glade.
He had been walking
for most of the morning. He was tired
and hungry, so he decided to sit down and eat one of his sandwiches. He found a nice shady spot beneath a
mushroom taller than he was, so he sat down on a bed of moss under it and
unwrapped a sandwich.
He bit into it. The watercress was nice and crisp, just the
way he liked it. He chewed the bite and
swallowed it. He continued eating and
as he did so, he took the opportunity to look around him some more. The mushroom that he was under was green
with huge purple spots on it and the mushroom’s hat was sufficiently wide
enough that Glimpee was completely in the shade. The ferns here were luscious and the breeze blowing through them
made them brush together and produce a light whisper that almost sounded like a
chorus of voices. The fragrance from
the flowers was very sweet and reminded Glimpee of wildflower honey and of
freshly-cut hay.
He finished his
sandwich and was very full. The sun was
high in the sky, almost directly overhead, and Glimpee was exhausted from his
long walk.
He lay down on the
soft moss and stared up at the bottom of the mushroom’s hat. He could see stripes radiating out from the
mushroom’s trunk and slowly his eyes closed and he fell into a deep slumber as
his exhaustion caught up with him.
Chapter Two
Puff-puff and Bluebell
Glimpee was awakened
by the sound of very light laughter.
The sun was now lower in the sky, but there were still at least a few
hours of daylight left. Glimpee looked
around for the source of the laughing, but he didn’t see anybody. He heard it again and realized that it was
coming from the nearest edge of the glade, from the direction of an unusually
large tree.
He stood up and
walked across the grass to the tree. He
looked to one side, then to the other, and then turned in a complete circle,
looking all around him in every direction as he turned. He didn’t see anyone anywhere.
He heard the
laughter again, much closer this time.
It was above him. He looked up
and saw two birds flying in circles around each other. One of the birds was a robin and the other
was a bluejay. Glimpee had never heard
birds laugh before, but the sound certainly seemed to be coming from them. They were obviously playing. First the robin would fly around the bluejay,
then the bluejay would fly around the robin, and then they would both fly in
loop-the-loops. As they played, they
flew lower and Glimpee could see that each of the two birds had a very small
rider on their back. Each rider looked
like a normal person in every way, except that they were only one or two inches
tall. They were laughing as they rode
the birds and Glimpee realized that they had been the source of the sounds that
had woken him.
“Hello,” said
Glimpee.
At this, the two
birds zipped lower and lower, flying very quickly in circles around Glimpee
until they reached the ground. Once
they landed at Glimpee’s feet, the two riders each hopped off them and they
took back to the skies.
“Thank you!” called
one of the tiny people as she waved to the departing birds.
“Yes, thank you!”
called out the other.
Now that they
weren’t in the air but were standing motionless on the ground, Glimpee could
make out the appearance of these very small people. They were each slightly under two inches tall. The first was clothed all in blue, wearing a
blue-bell flower on her head as an ornate hat.
The other was dressed in brown and he wore a pointed cloth hat of the
same color.
“Hello. I’m Blue-bell,” replied the one with the
blue-bell hat, as she smiled and shyly looked at the ground.
“And I’m Puff-puff,”
announced the other. “Who are you?”
“I’m Glimpee.” said
Glimpee.
“I’ve never seen
anyone as big as you before!” said Puff-puff, as he leaned way over backwards
and looked up to try to see all the way to the top of Glimpee’s head. “Where do you come from?”
“I live outside the
forest,” answered Glimpee.”and up until now, I was the smallest person I’d ever
seen. But I think you two are certainly
the smallest people I’ve ever seen.”
“We’re not people,
we’re elves.” explained Puff-puff.
“And for elves,
we’re just the right size.” added Bluebell.
...
“I help put the dew
on in the morning, but now I'm playing.”
...
Glimpee put his
hands in his pocket and as he did so, he accidently touched the golden key he
had found and remembered that it might be important.
"Do you know of
anyone who's lost a key?" he asked them.
Puff-puff thought a
moment and then answered, "I don't have any keys. As a matter of fact, I don't know of anyone
who would have a key. We don't use
them," he explained.
"Why do you
ask?" inquired Blue-bell.
Glimpee pulled the
key out of his pocket to show it to them.
When Puff-puff and Bluebell saw the key, their eyes got wider and wider
and rounder and rounder.
"That's a big
person's key!" exclaimed Blue-bell.
"And it's made
out of gold!" declared Puff-puff.
"Whose is it
it?" asked Blue-bell.
"And where did
you get it?" asked Puff-puff.
"I just found
it in the middle of that pool," explained Glimpee as he pointed towards
the clear blue water. "It was very
shiny, so I picked it up. I thought
maybe you knew who might have lost it, because I'd like to return it to its
owner."
At this, Puff-puff
and Bluebell each grew silent and looked at each other.
"That key is
much too large and heavy for any elven person to be able to carry it,"
said Puff-puff.
"And you're the
first big person that's ever been here in this glade." said Blue-bell.
"We have no
idea how it could have ended up in that pool, or who might have lost it."
announced Puff-puff.
"May I see it
up close?" asked Bluebell.
Glimpee lowered the
key to the ground and held it upright in front of Bluebell. It was twice as tall as she was. She leaned back to look up at the top of it
and declared, "why, that says 'OZ" on it!"
"Oz?"
asked Glimpee, "what's that?"
"Oz is a
magical fairyland," explained Puff-puff.
Glimpee picked up
the key, closed his hand around it, and put his hand in his pocket.
"Really?"
he asked, "I've never heard of it.
Where is it?"
"I've never
been there myself," said Puff-puff.
"Neither have
I." put in Bluebell.
"But we've
heard a lot about it," added Puff-puff, "It's somewhere very far
away. It's an enchanted land populated
by many marvelous beings. It's ruled by
a kind and loving queen whose only concern is for the happiness of her subjects. It's very difficult to find as it's
surrounded on all sides by an impassable desert which is surrounded by a vast
beautiful ocean."
He asks them what it
is, tell more about it.
They tell him more
"It sounds like
a wonderful place," replied Glimpee. "I sure wish I could see it someday."
At that moment, they
all heard a loud CRACK through the trees.
It was so loud that it almost blew Glimpee's hat off his head.
Chapter Three
The Secret Gate
"What was that
noise?" asked Glimpee in surprise as he quickly let go of the key in his
pocket and reached up to grip his walking-hat, "it almost blew my hat
off!"
"I don't
know," replied Puff-puff as he turned to walk into the woods, "but
I'm going to find out."
Glimpee let go of
his hat and both he and Bluebell followed the puffed-up elf as he strutted
off. The trees in this part of the
woods were very tall and their foliage formed a canopy far above them as they
walked. Glimpee could hear the wind
blowing through the leaves overhead. As
they continued on, they came to a part of the forest where there were large
boulders scattered about, many covered with moss. Some of the boulders stuck partially out of the ground and had
trees growing on top of them, the roots winding their way down the boulders
into the ground.
Puff-puff suddenly
came to a halt.
"Wow!" he
exclaimed as he pointed ahead, "There it is!"
Directly ahead of
them was a small pyramid sticking out of the ground. It, too, was made of stone.
On the side facing them was what looked to be an entrance. The opening had no door and was surrounded
by inscritptions on all sides in an ornate script that they could neither
recognize nor read. Engraved directly
above the portal was a circle with three lines in it. Two of these lines went straight across the circle and the third
one was slanted and connected the first two at opposite ends.
"That rock
never had a doorway in it before!" declared Bluebell, "How did it get
there?"
"I don't
know," answered Puff-puff, "but it's here now."
"In wonder
what's inside," said Glimpee.
"It looks
dark," responded Bluebell nervously, "I think we shouldn't go
in."
Puff-puff walked all
the way around the pyramid, examining it very carefully as he did so. "The rest of it is the same as it's
always been," he announced.
"Only the doorway is new."
"Has that
writing always been there?" asked Glimpee.
"Yup,"
responded Puff-puff.
"I think that
opening has something to do with your key!" declared Bluebell.
"Maybe,"
responded Glimpee.
"Well,"
she replied, "both the key and the doorway appeared on the same day and
nothing like either of them has ever been seen in the forest before. I think they're related somehow."
"There's only
one way to find out," decided Puff-puff, "we'll have to just go in
and see."
So he and Glimpee
stepped inside the pyramind. Bluebell
hesitated a moment and then followed the both of them.
Chapter Four
Glimpee in Oz
Bluebell found
Puff-puff and Glimpee just inside the doorway, standing at the top of a wide
staircase that spiralled down out of site.
"What is it?"
she asked.
"It's a
staircase," responded Puff-puff.
Glimpee looked
around the chamber and noticed that the walls seemed to be made of stone blocks
that were so close together that no mortar was visible between them. He started down the staircase to see what
lay below when Bluebell said, "Puff-puff,"
"You're right,
Bluebell." responded Puff-puff, "Glimpee, Bluebell and I are going to
return to the glade. Do you want to
some back with us?"
Glimpee hesitated a
moment before replying, "I'm going to see where this stairway leads."
"OK," said
Puff-puff, "it was very nice to meet you."
"I enjoyed
meeting the both of you as well," responded Glimpee.
"Bye-bye!"
said Bluebell, "be careful!"
"I will,"
said Glimpee, "Bye!"
Puff-puff and
Bluebell turned around and walked out of the pyramid's interior. Glimpee turned back to the staircase and
continued walking down it. After a
short while, he realized that he had gone farther than there was room for
inside the pyramid. Either the pyramid
as seen from outside was the top portion of something much larger, which he was
still in, or else the passageway had left the pyramid and continued on by
itself underground.
Eventually, the
stairway flattened out and became a corridor.
Glimpee continued walking until he reached a fork. There had originally been three passages at
this fork – one passage continued to the left and another to the right – but
the roof on the middle passage had caved in and buried it. He stopped for a moment to think which way
to go. The two remaining passages
seemed identical. As he stood there
pondering, he suddenly thought he heard a very distant "bump" sound
from somewhere down the right-hand passage.
He was curious what the noise could be,
so he chose that corridor and continued down it to try to discover the
source of the puzzling sound.
After a brief walk,
the passage splintered into three separate corridors. Glimpee picked the one on the right and continued down it. It curved sharply and Glimpee discovered himself
at another three-way fork. This time he
picked the middle passage and continued down it. It twisted sharply and Glimpee again found himself at a three-way
fork identical in appearance to the previous two.
He chose a direction
at random and after a short walk through another twisty passage, he found
himself at another identical three-way fork.
He was beginning to feel a bit lost, but he knew that he hadn't
travelled too far just yet. He picked
another passage and continued down it.
After another small twist, he found himself at a three-way fork
again. He sat down to think.
After a minute or
two, he heard a "bump" again, this time much closer. It was coming from one of the passages, so
he stood up to look down it.
He heard another
"bump," much closer this time.
He couldn't see past the curve in the passageway, so he slowly stepped
closer until he was right at the bend.
He strained to listen, but couldn't hear anything else. So he set off right down the corridor to
find out what had caused the noise.
As soon as he passed
the bend, he sprawled, arms and legs akimbo, as he had suddenly walked right
into someone else coming from the other direction. The force of the impact almost knocked his hat from his head, but
he managed to grab onto it in time to keep it from flying off. The two of them had met so quickly and with
neither one noticing the other that they had gotten all tangled up.
"Please excuse
me," said Glimpee, "I didn't notice that you were there."
"Quite all
right," replied a voice, "I was entirely engrossed and didn't notice
you, either."
Glimpee stood up and
noticed that he had been talking with a small horse.
"I didn't know
that horses could talk," he said.
"I'm not a
horse," replied the mule, "I'm a mule."
"Oh," said
Glimpee, "I'm sorry, I didn't know.
My name is Glimpee. What's
yours?"
"Mewel,"
responded the mule, "and don't worry about it, it's a very common
mistake."
"What are you
doing way down here?"
"I'm searching
for my master. Many years ago, my
master, Simon. P. Lunker, bought me to carry his tools for him. He's a gold miner, and he and I came down
here to search for precious metals in the rocks of the walls. We got separated one day and I've been
searching for him in these twisty little passages ever since. I've searched every single one of them sixty
three times."
"I hope you
find him," responded Glimpee.
"So do I. Why are you down here?"
"I think I'm
lost. I'm trying to find the owner of
this key," said Glimpee. He
reached into his pocket and pulled it out, showing it to the mule. "Did you lose a key like this?"
"Certainly
not," responded Mewel, "mules have no use for keys."
"Can you help
me find my way out of here?" asked Glimpee.
"Yes,"
responded the mule, "but I need to find Mr. Lunker first."
"Well,"
reasoned Glimpee, "if you've already searched every single one of these
passages sixty three times without finding him, perhaps he's somewhere
else."
"That makes
sense...." said Mewel as he cocked his head at the boy, first to one side
and then to the other, "alright, I'll show you the way out of here. Follow me."
Glimpee followed the
mule. They quickly came to another
three-way fork. Without stopping, Mewel
gave a little hop and then walked down the left passage. It turned sharply and Glimpee found that
they were now back at the original fork at the end of the corridor he had first
come down.
"This right
hand passage leads back to the maze," explained Mewel, "The main
passage in the middle has been blocked off like this ever since Mr. Lunker and
I first arrived. I have no idea where
the left hand passage leads."
He gave another
little hop and then the two of them set off down the left hand passage.
Chapter Five
The Terrible Telebubbles
Glimpee and Mewel
walked down the narrow passageway and as they did so, the surface became bumpy
and uneven. The surface rose and fell,
and the passage curved in one direction and then back in the other.
After walking for a
while, Glimpee noticed a sign posted on one of the walls.
"Look!" he
announced to Mewel, "there's a sign."
The sign appeared
very old and worn down. Most of the
paint was gone, but Glimpee could just make out the words:
BEWARE THE TERRIBLE
TELEBUBBLES
"I wonder what
that means?" he asked.
"Whatever it
means, it doesn't sound good to me. I
think we should turn back."
"But you've
never been down this passage before, and Mr. Lunker might be here."
"That's
true," agreed Mewel, "I guess we should continue. Anyways, that sign looks pretty old. I'm sure that whatever it intended to warn
people about is long gone."
So they continued
walking.
The light in the
passageway started to get dim and they could begin to hear voices ahead of
them.
"What are those
voices saying?" asked Glimpee.
"I'm not
sure," replied Mewel, "there seem to be a lot of them, but I can't
quite make out any individual one."
The passageway
turned again and there was a faint blue glow coming from somewhere ahead of
them.
They continued on
and reached a dead-end in the corridor.
It widened out to form a large underground cavern. There were a number of black spheres widely
scattered about here and there. Each
one was about ten feet in diameter and had a large rectangular opening on one
side which gave off the blue glow. They
heard a chaotic mix of voices all speaking at once, but again, they were unable
to make out what any of them were saying or where the voices were coming from.
"Greetings,"
suddenly said one of the spheres loudly and clearly, "Welcome to
Televille!"
They turned to face
the voice and found themselves face-to-face with one of the black spheres. Its rectangular mouth was open and glowed
blue; and its two antennae slowly waved back and forth.
Mewel's knees began
to knock against each other.
"Who are
you?" asked Glimpee.
"We're
telebubbles," responded the sphere as it took a step closer, "the
bringers of happiness!"
A few of the other
telebubbles began to slowly move about as Mewel asked, "Bringers of
happiness? What do you mean?"
The telebubble took
another step towards them and opened its mouth wide, "Just take a
look!" it responded.
Glimpee and Mewel
peered inside and saw that inside the sphere was a small round room containing
an overstuffed comfy lounge chair. The
chair was empty. There was a cacophony
of voices coming from the glowing blue walls.
The voices got louder and closer and Glimpee caught a couple of phrases
like, "But how could you? Don't
you like me?" and "Don't touch that dial!" As he looked at the glowing walls, he
started to forget who he was, where he was, and his questions about where his
key came from and who it belonged to.
He shook his head to
clear it and stepped back from the telebubble.
Mewel's knees had stopped shaking.
"Why don't you
step inside?" asked the telebubble, "you'll love it."
"I don't think
I want to," responded Glimpee as some of the telebubbles continued to
slowly move towards the pair.
“But you have to be
in a telebubble to be happy!” exclaimed the sphere. By this time, a dozen or so telebubbles had made a circle around
Mewel and Glimpee, surrounding them.
None of the other
telebubbles had moved.
"This is for
your own good!" declared one of the telebubbles as it open its mouth wide
and leaned over Glimpee.
Without warning,
Mewel sprung into action. He ran at the
telebubble, turned around, and kicked it over with his hind legs. Before any of the other telebubbles had
realized what was happening, Mewel spun in a circle and kicked over the
remaining eleven. While they were all
dazed, he lowered his head and said to Glimpee "Quick! Hop on my back and we'll outrun them!"
The second that
Glimpee got on Mewel's back, the mule quickly ran away from the
telebubbles. He ran with with such
speed that the wind almost blew the boy's hat away, but Glimpee managed to grab
ahold of it before it could fly off.
When they reached
one of the walls of the cavern, they realized this this was not really a
dead-end. There were a number of small,
low passages leading away from televille.
The passages had been too small and far away to have been seen from the
center of the room.
Mewel lowered his
head again and Glimpee got off of the mule's back. "Thank you for the ride," he said, "but I'm very
glad to be standing on the ground again."
"We'd better
leave before those bubble-heads come after us," said Mewel, "Which
passage do you think we should take?"
Glimpee stepped
forward and examined the passages. He
thought for a moment and then pointed at one of the smaller ones.
"This
one." he decided.
Chapter Six
The Mixed-up Cavern
Glimpee and Mewel
walked quickly away from Televille, through the underground passageway that the
boy had chosen. The corridor was narrow
and Glimpee walked in front with Mewel right behind him.
“Well,” said Mewel,
recalling his recent harrowing experiences with the telebubbles, “I’ve never
seen anything like that before.”
"It seemed
familiar somehow," answered Glimpee.
"Not to
me!" exclaimed the mule.
As they continued
walking, the passageway got a little wider and taller, until there was enough
room for the two of them to walk side-by-side.
The pasage curved to one side up ahead of them.
Suddenly, Mewel
stopped and his ears perked up. "I
hear something!" he declared.
Glimpee stopped to
listen and heard a light "TAP-TAP-TAP" down the passageway in front
of them.
"I recognize
that sound!" announced the mule as he ran on ahead.
Glimpee trotted
after the mule. When he turned the
corner, he saw an old man, with wild hair and a beard, wearing a one piece
coverall. The man was bent down low,
using a small hammer to tap bits of rock off the wall.
Mewel ran up to the
man and said, "Simon!"
The old man looked
up, dropped his hammer in surprise, and threw both arms around the mule as he
said, "Mewel! And just where have
you been hiding yourself all this time?"
"Me? I've been looking for you! Where have you been?"
"Why, I've been
right here, looking for rare metals and jewels, just like always. Who's your friend?" he asked as he
noticed Glimpee approach them.
"This is
Glimpee," responded Mewel, "and if it wasn't for him, I'd never have
found you."
"Well, fancy
that. Looks like I'm indebted to you,
youngster. Any friend of Mewel's and
all that," he said as he reached down to shake the boy's hand, "I'm S. P. Lunker – my friends call me
Simon. Pleased to meet you."
"I'm very
pleased to meet you, sir," answered Glimpee.
"Glimpee's lost
and is trying to find his way outside," interrupted the mule, "do you
think we can help him?"
"Most
certainly," responded Simon, "I've been in these caverns for years
and know my way around them like I know my way around the back of my hand! What did you happen to be doing down here in
the first place, Glimpee?"
"I'm trying to
find the owner of this key," answered Glimpee as he reached in his pocket
and pulled out his key. "Did you
lose it?" he asked the old man.
"Well, I've
lost a great many things in my time – including my best friend and luggage carrier,
Mewel here! But I'm pretty certain that
I've never had a key..." responded Simon.
He trailed off as his mind wandered back and he tried to remember the
days before he had come underground.
"But enough of
that," he continued, "if we're going to show you the way out, we'd
better get going!"
With that, he spun
around and marched off. "Come
on!" he called back over his shoulder, "it's this way!"
Glimpee and Mewel
followed after him, hurrying to catch up.
"He always
walks fast like this," explained Mewel to Glimpee, "that's why I lost
him in the first place."
"I sure hope
that we don't run into any more of those telebubbles..." said Glimpee
worriedly as he and Mewel walked up next to Simon.
"Telebubbles?"
said the old man, "Don't worry about them! They're just full of hot air.
Myself, I just ignore them and they pretty much leave me alone."
Almost loses hat.
a cavern where
everything in it moves towards storage compartments slowly or towards (warmer?)
temperatues – a mix-up room. Mewel
finds way out? Mewel’s older Simon P.
Lunker spelunker companion turns out to be an older version of Glimpee from the
future (not stated) who remembers these events happening? Or some other character who is an older
version from future who remembers what’s happening.
Maybe they cross a
crystal bridge instead? Spans chasm
with river far beneath it – where later Davy + Glimpee will be travelling.
Chapter Seven
Davy Jones’ Locker
Underground lake w/
Davy Jones in it – underwater passage connects to Nonestic.
Glimpee looked
around the cavern and heard a hollow voice say, "Hello. Are you a pirate?"
Glimpee looked
around again. First he turned all the
way around in a complete circle one way but didn't see anybody. Then he turned all the way around in a
complete circle the other way, but again he didn't see anybody. He looked up and he looked down but couldn't
find anyone.
"No, I'm
not." replied Glimpee. "Where
are you? I can't find you."
"Right
here," replied the voice.
It seemed to be
coming from the direction of the wooden structure out in the water. Glimpee looked at the house-boat again and
realized that the section facing him was now very similar to a face. Two droopy wooden eyelids opened to reveal a
pair of port-holes where eyes would be.
A deck with a brass railing was attached right where a mouth would
be. He began to suspect that it wasn't
really a house-boat at all.
"Hello,"
Glimpee said. "My name is
Glimpee. Who are you?"
"My name is
Davy Jones," replied Davy.
"What are
you?" asked Glimpee, "you seem to be very large."
"Well, it's all
relative, really. For a wooden whale,
I'm just the right size. Are you
certain that you're not a pirate?"
"Yes, I'm
certain," answered Glimpee,
"Why do you ask?"
"I don't like
pirates. They're always trying to steal
my pies, ..,.., and other assorted baked goods. Well, they're not mine really, I just deliver them. But I have a responsibility to keep them
from pirates and to make sure that they get delivered safely.
"I've only met
one pirate whom I liked, and that's because he's an Ex-Pirate. As a matter of fact, he's saved my wooden
skin on quite a number of occasions."
"Did you happen
to lose a key?" asked Glimpee.
mahogany sides, door
on side to cabin with bunks. The bunks
have timers that tilt you out onto floor.
Not sure if we'll use these.
Lockers in bunk.
Mewel stays
behind. He has found S.P. Lunker with
Glimpee’s help, and they stay to mine for more (....) Davy is taking a break from his job of transporting baked goods. Glimpee is hungry, Davy offers him some
cake, cookies, and biscuits from his locker.
Chapter Eight
An Octopus’ Garden
While still
undersea, Davy & Glimpee find an octopus’ garden (don’t call it that) and
meet an octopus (or a village of octopi?)
A sea-horse named
Hip O. Campus
Almost loses hat.
Chapter Nine
The Undersea Palace
Mermaids underwater
– catch glimpses or rumors of first (refer to earlier), meet later
First travel through
undersea city to get to undersea palace.
The palace has the city around it.
Chapter Ten
The Sea of Green
Davy reaches an
above-water island called Pedloe Island, Glimpee meets Brown Bleegum, Davy has
to go back to work. He doesn't want his
deliveries to be late.
Bleegum has a
bottomless lunchpail – ie always has a lunch in it.
Chapter Eleven
The Ice Cream Pirates of Oz
Glimpee and Brown
Bleegum sat crosslegged on opposite corners of the raft. The raft seemed to finally be stable and
Glimpee breathed a sigh of relief.
He noticed that
Brown Bleegum was peering off into the distance, behind Glimpee’s left shoulder. Glimpee turned his head and looked behind
him to see what Bleegum was looking at.
He saw what seemed to be a large ship, with two masts, off in the
distance.
It was heading
directly towards them.
“Pirates!” Brown
Bleegum declared.
“How can you tell?”
asked Glimpee.
“They’re the only
ones who travel in these waters, and I recognize their colors.” replied
Bleegum.
The boat was
approaching them quickly, and as Glimpee turned again to face the ship, he
could see a black pennant displaying the skull-and-crosbones flying from the
tallest mast. The ship was lined with
portholes and each one had a cannon pointing out of it, directly at them.
When the ship was so
close that Glimpee though the raft would be split in two, it suddenly veared to
go around them.
As it passed,
Bleegum and Glimpee saw a horde of rough-looking pirates jumping up and down
and shaking their fists or waving their swords. One particularly ugly one-eyed man peered at them from over the
side of the ship and bellowed, “Prepare to be boarded! And don’t even try to hide your ice cream!
We can sniff it out!”
The ship zipped on
by them and started to come about. When
it was half way turned, and Glimpee could see the entire length of it, a
cannonball suddenly zoomed over his head from behind him and went right through
the Jolly Roger on the pirate ship, leaving a perfectly circular hole where the
skull-and-crossbones had been. The
cannonball flew by so close to Glimpee’s head that the wind from it almost blew
off his hat. He had managed to grab
ahold of it in time to hold it onto his head.
“Whew!” he exclaimed, “I sure am glad I didn’t lose my hat.”
Glimpee turned and
saw a huge three-masted ship with a single cannon on its deck. From the top of the middle mast flew the
green and white banner of Oz.
“Lay to, you
jack-snaped lubbers!” stormed a voice from the ship. “There’ll be no ice cream for you tonight!”
The source of this
edict was a queer looking grizzly man wearing a tri-cornered hat and a long
satin coat and breeches, standing next to the cannon holding a blazing stick.
“Make one move and
I’ll blow your ship into tiny pieces!”
Bleegum smiled.
“We’re saved,” he
announced. “It’s the Royal Navy.”
Chapter Twelve
The Royal Navy of Oz
“Allow me to
introduce myself: Admiral Samuel Salt,
Royal Navy of Oz, Royal Explorer of Oz, and Royal Ex-pirate of Oz, at your
service.”
"Oh, I've
discovered a few new lands throughout the Seven Seas of Oz, some habitable and
some not. Most of them have since been
colonized by denizens from Central Oz."
“First mate Winkle!”
“Arrrr!”
“See to the Rusty Bucket.”
“Arrrr,”
Describle Winkle and
what he does going over to the Bucket.
“Second mate
Blinkle!”
“Arrrr!”
“Take the wheel and
keep ‘er sou-sou-west – I’m going below with our guests.”
“Arrrr,”
...
(later, below)
The main cabin of
the Cresecent Moon was a cheery place
indeed after Glimpee's and Bleegum's trials and tribulations on their raft and
their harrowing experience with the Ice Cream Pirates. There were cushiony red couches under the
portholes; easy chairs and tables clamped to the floor to keep them from
shifting, a ship's clock hanging on the wall, and lanterns suspended from the
rafters.
There was a huge
fireplace at one end of the cabin and every visible remaining space on the
walls was covered with pictures of pirate ships, ancient sailing vessels, and
roughly drawn maps and charts of strange and curious islands.
Glimpee ran to the
nearest wall to examine the pictures.
"Many years
ago, I was a pirate myself. In fact,
some of those pirate ships used to be my own vessels, or ships that I served
on," explained Admiral Salt, "but others are vessels that I've
captured since I've decided to become an ex-pirate and am now the Royal
Navy."
...
“Can you take us to
Oz?”
“You’re already in
Oz, lad. I can’t take you to Central
Oz, where the famed Emerald City and what-not is, but I can take you as far as
the coast. From there, you’ll be able
to take an ozoplane over the Deadly Desert, straight to the Emerald City
itself, smack-dab in the middle of Central Oz.”
The Emerald City?
"The Emerald
City is home to the most kindest and most thoughtful ruler in the world, Queen
Ozma of Oz. The great Wizard is her
most trusted advisor and Chief Magician of the Realm. On special occasions the powerful sorceress Glinda is always
ready to help. All they think of is how
to make everybody happy. You'll soon
see for yourself, lad."
“Second mate
Blinkle!”
“Arrrr!”
“Lay in a new course
due east – we're heading home for a bit.”
“Arrrr,”
Samuel Salt welcomes
Glimpee and Bleegum on board, yields the wheel to Winkle, the other ship to
Blinkle, and takes the guests to his cabin.
Relates his Saga. (and the expansion of Oz outward from Central Oz to
include the entire continent and many of the islands. )
Salt relates his history
as Discoverer, how he has helped Oz to expand out to these islands, and the
fleet of airships the wizard invented to cross the Deadly Desert.
Now looking for a
way to inhabit the desert.
“I’ve heard of
parrots that talk, but never of any that said anything.” (about Flapdoodle)
... Winkle: abrupt
and crusty “Go away, you!”
After dinner, Samuel
Salt leaned back in his chair and lustily let forth with an old sea-chanty:
“Old Ozymandius
He did demand of us
All our toys and things!
But of his works,
Not one still lurks,
So we are free to sing!”
“What’s that song
about?” asked Glimpy.
“Oh, no one knows
anymore, lad. It’s just an old
jim-cracker rhyme used to pass the time.
I’ve picked up countless chanties in ports all over the boundless realms
of the Nonestic. This here is one of my
favorites:
“Blow high – blow
low –
‘Tis a salt sea life for me –
With a good ship’s
crew I’ll sail the blue
With a good ship going free – ee – ee!
With a good ship
going free!”
“Of course,” he
continued, “ever since I’ve added magic automation to the Crescent Moon, I haven’t needed any more crew than two. I can just push a button or press a
digitator to raise the sails, another to lower the sails, and once I lay in a
course at the helm, it stays laid-in until I see fit to change it! But Winkle and Blinkle are two of the finest
sailors that have ever served with me.
Don’t know what I’d ever do without ‘em.
"But enough
about me! How came ye to be cast adrift
in the Nonestic?"
Glimpee tells his
story.
"And I've been
trying to find out who lost this key so that I can return it to them. Did you lose a key?"
"Not that I can
recall, lad. What's it look like?"
Glimpee took the key
out of his pocket it handed it to Admiral Salt. Samuel held it up close to one eye, squinted his other eye shut,
and peered at it intently.
"Hmm," he announced, "it seems to me I may have seen that
key someplace before. Now where was
it..." He thought for a bit,
tapping his forefinger against the tabletop as it helped him to think.
"Well," he
proclaimed as he handed the key back to Glimpee, "it seems to me that the
best thing to do is to take both you and your key straight to Queen Ozma
herself at the Emerald City. She'll
certainly know what's to be done."
"The Emerald
City!" exclaimed Glimpee, "Oh boy!"
Chapter Thirteen
The Crescent Moon
Sail to the coast –
spend time on deck, describing weather + sea, learning sea legs? – in the
riggint. See Captain Salt in Oz for dialogue and descriptions of ship,
etc. Describe the ship (inside and
out). Salt mentions balloon sails.
Chapter Fourteen
The Wall of Water
“What’s a
waterwall?”
“It’s like a
waterfall, lad, only it doesn’t!”
Sail up the
waterwall. People living on top.
The people here had
fish tails from the waist down. At
first, Glimpee thought that they were mermaids and mermen, until he noticed
that they also had large feathery wings instead of arms. They would swim along in the water and then
suddenly leap out, unfold their wings, and fly about without warning.
Meravians.
"Welcome to
Meravia. May peace and joy be with
you. Would you like to fly with
us?"
"I'd like to,
but I don't know how to fly."
"It's
simple. Just leap into the air and flap
your wings."
"But I don't
have any wings."
"No wings? What a shame."
At that, the meravian
flew on.
"Don't worry,
lad. I always fly with the meravians,
whenever I'm here," announced Admiral Salt. As he said this, he pushed one of the sail controls and the sails
of the Crescent Moon inflated like
giant balloons. The ship rose out of
the water and the meravians flew around, above, and below it. One of the magical beings laughed and flew
close by Glimpee, so close that the breeze almost blew Glimpee's hat off his
head. Glimpee managed to grab ahold of
it just in time to stop it from flying away.
1/2 fish, 1/2 person
- fish half live under water, person half above
water? At top of waterwall? Or maybe top half has wings - 1/2 in
water, 1/2 in air
(since wall is tall and birds are high)
Chapter Fifteen
The Sea of Pink
Long trip down the wall.
As they sailed down
the wall, Glimpee saw a cloudbank in front of them. Since they were sailing straight down the wall, passing through
the clouds was very much like sailing through a wall of fog. Once they were in the clouds, Admiral Salt
and Glimpee could barely see each other through the haze. Contrary to Glimpee's expectations, the haze
was a light pink.
"Don't worry,
lad." proclaimed Admiral Salt,
"The clouds in these parts are always pink. We're crossing from the emerald green Nonestic Ocean to the pink
waters of the Nonentic Sea."
Once the ship passed
through the cloud layer, there was only a short trip further down the water
until they reached the bottom of the wall.
As the ship righted itself and continued on, a small breeze almost blew
Glimpee's hat off his head, but he managed to grab it in time and stopped it
from blowing away. The ship continued
on, rapidly leaving the waterwall behind them.
Glimpee looked out
over the prow of the Crescent Moon at
the bright pink water all around them and, in spite of the clouds overhead, was
overcome with joy.
"I feel tickled
pink!"
"And well you
should, lad. Most oceans are blue and
put people in a blue funk, but the pink Nonentic has always been a happy ocean
and shares it's joy with anyone lucky enough
to visit it," explained Admiral Salt.
The wind came up
from behind them and the ship sailed smoothly and quickly on the smooth waters,
swaying lightly.
Glimpee closed his
eyes and leaned out over the edge of the ship, enjoying the wind on his face, when
all of a sudden he felt a drop of water fall right on his nose. He stood back up straight, opened his eyes,
and saw that it was raining.
"Take a taste,
lad," smiled Samuel Salt.
Glimpee stuck out
his tongue and caught a raindrop on it.
"It tastes like
lemonade!" he exclaimed.
"Not just any
lemonade, lad. The rain in the Nonentic
is always pink lemonade, one of the best flavors there is. It's guaranteed to leave you in the
pink." He opened a cabinet beneath
the bulwark and pulled out two glasses, handing one of them to Glimpee. "Here you go lad – see if you can
collect some more."
Samuel Salt held his
glass straight out in front of him.
"Like this," he announced.
Glimpee held his own
glass out and watched it slowly collect drops of the delicious pink lemonade.
"First mate
Winkle!" stormed Admiral Salt.
Winkle came up from
bellow wearing a storm hat and slicker.
"Arrr!" he
replied.
"Bring up a
pitcher from the kitchen. We'll be
having lemonade with our supper."
"Arrr,"
responded Winkle as he stomped back down the hatchway.
"He's one of
the best I've ever served with, but he's not much of a talker. No good seaman is." said Admiral Salt.
"Do we have
much longer until we get to land?" asked Glimpee.
"Not at all
lad. We've maybe an hour or two of
sailing until we'll reach the shore.
From there, you'll be just in time to catch the last Ozoship of the day
to the Emerald City. I'd take you there
myself, but we need to return to the Nonestic to stop those pirates. Rest assured, you'll be in excellent hands. I know the pilot personally."
Winkle returned from
below and sullenly stood next the the pair, holding the pitcher in front of him
with both hands.
"Good man,
Winkle! Just collect one pitcher of
that delicious pink lemonade, and we'll be all set for supper!"
Winkle glowered at
the pair of them but said nothing.
Samuel Salt and
Glimpee stood on the deck, enjoying the air and the light rain, continuing to
collect their glasses of lemonade. The
ship sailed on. After a few minutes,
the two glasses were full and Admiral Salt and Glimpee each drank deeply from
their glasses.
"Ahhh!"
declared Samuel Salt, "That's the finest lemonade that I've ever
tasted!"
"It certainly
is delicious," agreed Glimpee.
Winkle said
nothing. He stood still, letting the
pitcher of lemonade continue to fill from the rain. Once it was finally full, the rain stopped and the clouds started
to clear.
Directly ahead of
them, Glimpee spotted a rainbow.
"Look!" he
exclaimed as he pointed towards it, "a rainbow!"
"Yes, lad, it's
a beautiful sight. At the rate we're
going, we should reach it in fairly short order."
Sure enough, he was
right. For as the Crescent Moon continued onward, it got closer and closer to the
rainbow. Eventually Glimpee could make
out shimmering female figures dancing lightly up and down the rainbow.
"Who are
they?" he asked.
"Those are the
Rainbow King's daughters, lad, the rainbow fairies themselves. Take a good look -- one doesn't often get to
see them," replied Admiral Salt.
Glimpee watched the
dancers with fascination as the Crescent
Moon approached the rainbow. As the
ship sailed past it, one of the maidens waved to them and called out,
"Good afternoon, Samuel!"
"Good
afternoon, lady Polychrome," replied the Admiral as he gave a wave in
return, "your dance is more beautiful than ever."
"Thank
you," she replied as she continued dancing and the Crescent Moon passed on, leaving the rainbow behind them.
The sun finally
broke through the clouds and the rainbow began to fade. As it did so, the maidens ran up it and
their colors merged with that of the rainbow until both it and them could no
longer be seen.
Samual Salt finished
his lemonade in one gulp while Glimpee took another small sip from his own
glass.
Chapter Sixteen
The Burning Desert
A handsome young wearing
a bright green suit quickly walked up a spiral staircase in tall green tower in
a green castle.
At the very top
floor, he faced a locked door.
"Open up!" he announced as he pounded on the door,"it's
me!"
"No need to
pound me," said the door as it opened for him, "I could tell who it
was."
The young man
stepped inside and strode across the room towards a complex control panel on
the opposite wall. As he passed the
clock, it said, "Good afternoon, Mister Nine."
"Good
afternoon," he responded.
He walked up to an
eyepiece and peered through it.
"Hmmm," he
told the clock, "everything seems to be normal."
He looked a bit more
and then suddenly jumped back in alarm.
"Jumping
Tadpoles!" he declared, "it's actually moving! The Wizard must be informed!"
He sat down at the
control desk, put on a pair of headphones, and placed a large microphone on the
desk in front of him.
The Wizard of Oz
himself was at that very moment many miles away in one of his hot air balloons,
far above the ground, flying south towards the palace of Glinda the Good. As he was operating the controls of his
balloon, he suddenly heard a voice boom out of the air, "THIS IS THE VOICE
OF NUMBER NINE."
"Ah," he
replied, "Good to hear from you Mister Nine. How are things today?"
"That's why I'm
contacting you. I'm afraid that things
aren't very well at all. Can you come
up to the laboratory?"
"I'm on my way
to Glinda's and if I turned back now, I wouldn't get home until after
dark. What seems to be the
problem?"
"There have
been more developments with the desert," responded the voice of Number
Nine.
--
The Crescent Moon drew smoothly alongside a
long dock on the shore of the land of Ev.
Glimpee and Admiral Salt stood on deck
"There it is,
lad," said Admiral Salt
At coast, take an
elevator at the station to the landing platform high in the air. (or better
yet, use the Crescent Moon’s balloon
sails)
“The Crescent Moon still has some tricks in
her!” (prior to balloon sails inflating and take-off)
“The old Crescent Moon’s still got some tricks in
her, lad!”
“Just call me Percy
the Personality Pilot, kid!”
"“So you’re a
visitor to Oz, huh?” said Percy, “just like Princess Dorothy. Why, she came here a hundred years ago and
ended up liking the place so much that she moved in permanently.”
“A hundred
years! Wow. She must be very old.”
“Not at all. No one in Oz ever ages, kid, unless they
want to.”
“Never ages?” Glimpee thought about this for a while, and
then asked, “but what about babies?”
“Babies age, of
course. People only age when they want
to, but babies always want to be older.
But once they're old enough to want to be young, they'll stop
aging. No no one ever dies of old age
in Oz.”
“So if no one ever
ages in Oz,” asked Glimpee, “and no one ever dies, is that why there are more
people? Is that why Oz has needed to
expand past the desert and into the islands?”
“I’m not sure,
kid. Maybe. But really, Oz is such a fun and exciting place that everyone who
ever visits just wants to stay and live here,” explained Captain Percy. He continued to look out the viewscreen as
he adjusted the ship's flight and thought for a bit. Then he turned back to Glimpee and said, "But I'm not
certain if there's any specific reason why Oz has needed to expand." He turned back to the controls and with a sigh
announced, “Boy, it seems like this trip gets longer every time I fly it.”
CUT TO:
The Wiz and Glinda
at the edge of the desert, trying to halt the progress. Some dialogue and description. They slow it, but are unable to halt it. Magic is more powerful than anything they’ve
ever encountered before. They see and
Ozoplane pass overhead, then head to the Emerald City to confer with Ozma.
Chapter Seventeen
The Castle in the Air
(or Maybe The Royal College?)
Back to Glimpee and
Percy. Ozoplane makes a stop at an Air
Castle.
Sky Island, Skyle of
Un, Umbrella Island, Stratovania (other sky lands seen on trip?)
The Air Castle is HM
Wogglebug’s castle from Runaway in Oz
Nuna a cloud maiden
(polychrome visiting?)
Hat almost blows off
Glimpee asks how Oz
became a fairy land – someone tells him that the Fairy Queen Lurline enchanted
it many years ago.
Chapter Eighteen
The City of Emeralds
Green glow in the
distance from the Emerald City - it is
rosy-fingered dawn on one side of the Ozoplane and emerald-fingered on the
other.
Much traffic in and
out of Central Oz. See flying chariot
drawn by two swans fly towards palace.
When they get to the
city, it is wonderous to behold.
Describe it. Emeralds
everywhere. Many Ozoplanes and hot-air
balloons in the air. (Or maybe just the
Wiz’s hot air balloon) Refer to Neill’s Wonder
City for descriptions.
Ozoplane docks at
the Ozoport
Only one hot air
balloon is docked at the Emerald City central Ozoport – it is the Wizard’s.
Toby, Ozma’s
bodyguard from Forbidden Fountain, is
there to escort them. Rakish hat and
long handlebar mustache. Royal green
uniform with a poppy embroidered on each sleeve and a belt with a gold buckle
supporting a silver hilted sword.
Scalawagons to
palace
see murals
consisting of scenes from history of oz and other pictures painted on walls.
(also see people painting because history still happening?)
“So it wasn’t my
imagination! The trip across the Desert
really is longer every time!” said
Percy, “and that explains why the shack was in the desert. No one had moved it, the desert snuck up
underneath it!”
“According to the
Great Book of Records, this boy Glimpee holds the key to our dilemma.”
It would be good to
show issues of the Ozmapolitan somewhere – maybe on the Ozoplanes or in the Air
Castle, but if they were to announce that the sands were still expanding (which
is supposed to be a surprise), how would we fit it in the story?
Chapter Nineteen
Ozymandius of Oz
Ozymandius appears
in a puff of smoke – does his thing & complements everyone on doing a great
job (Ozma) then disappears again.
Explains how to use key, what is happening with the Sand)
Toby jumped in front
of Ozma in order to protect her. “Do
not fear, Toby.” annonced Ozma, “this man is not here to harm us.”
“Ozymandius!” proclaimed
Glinda, “You’ve returned at last.”
“Returned?” asked
the robed figure, “I didn’t know that I was away. I wonder where I was?”
Ozymandius looked around the throne room and then asked, “Where’s
Pastoria?”
“My name is Ozma,”
announced Ozma as she stood up from the throne, “Pastoria has retired from his
royal duties and I now rule Oz. I have
done so for nearly one hundred years.”
“And you’ve done a
wonderful job. That’s why I had to
return.”
“Return?” asked
Ozma, “What do you mean? I’ve never
seen you before. Who are you?”
“My name is
Ozymandius. I, too, once ruled this
land. I was the first. Many many years ago, long before anyone had
ever heard of the land of Oz, the fairy Lurline and I rendered these lands
habitable and put in place many enchantments to protect it and its people.
“I originally
created the Shifting Sands and the Deadly Desert as one of those
protections. When the Kingdom of Oz was
young, it needed protection against invasion from those in the outlying lands
who wished to conquer it and enslave its people. But now that Oz has finally expanded beyond the boundary of the
Desert, its people have not only settled in those outlying lands but in the
Nonestic Islands as well. People are
travelling across the Desert on a regular basis and there is at last peace
among all the various lands. The Desert
is no longer needed and the time has finally come to turn it off.
“Far to the north,
in the heart of the Desert, you will find an enormous statue warning off
intruders. Using the key which the
young Glimpitarius holds, you will be able to turn off the deadly sands from
there.
“Good luck - I have
the utmost faith in you.”
Ozymandius then
rapped the ground with the end of his magic staff and disappeared in a puff of
smoke.
“Glimpitarius? Who’s that?” asked Glimpee.
“You are.” replied
Glinda. “According to the Great Book of
Records, your given name is Glimpitarius."
Chapter Twenty
The Shifting Sands
Ozma finds statue
with her magic picture. Only the base
of the statue with Ozymandius’ feet are still intact. There is only the base, but they decide that this must be the
statue that Ozymandius referred to.
They fly there in
Glinda’s chariot. (Wiz’s balloon not fast enough)
Nope – Only Wiz and
Glimpee go, they take Wiz’s balloon. On
this balloon trip, during a conversation, a gust of wind finally blows
Glimpee’s hat off – it blows it to the statue.
Wizard has his black
bag of magical tools.
“Hmm...”, noted the
Wizard as he peered downward, “I'm certain that those feet are around here
somwhere.” As the Wizard spoke, a
particularly strong gust rose from the desert and blew Glimpee’s hat clean off
his head. “Ahh!” Glimpee declared as it
rose higher and higher, “my hat!” He
and the wizard watched it as it spiralled up.
About twenty feet up from the balloon, it stopped rising, paused for a
moment, then flew back down to one side of the basket and floated, motionless,
just out of Glimpee’s reach. “My
hat! We have to get it.” The hat was very close to Glimpee and the
Wizard, but try as they might, neither one was able to reach it. (guides them to statue)
(Previous comments: “Whew! I’m glad I didn’t lose my hat! I need it!”
Ozma watches the
trip on the Magic Picture.
Or maybe Wiz
announces first about his shoes (only fit Glimpee) so Glimpee is transported
there via the wish-belt. He was also
the one who found the key, so after some discussion about other people who
might go, Glimpee was settled on.
The statue is facing
north.
Wiz has a prototype
of his new invention, sand-proof shoes (uses same elevating principle as the
Ozoplane).
They only fit
Glimpee, so he’s got to do it.
“My
name is Ozymandius, the Great and Terrible,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair
Lest shall ye (you?) become as dust!”
(for
you shall become dust?)
They theorize that
the threatening inscription was used to frighten people.
He finds key-hole in
base of statue, uses key and turns off desert.
Inscription becomes:
“Ozymandius,
Founder of Oz,
Behold these lands and rejoice!”
Sands dissolve into
base, restoring statue to full figure of Ozymandius. Beautiful and luscious hills, dales, woods and streams are left.
Chapter Twenty One
Glimpee’s Dilemma
Jelia Jamb’s big
scene – organizing the preparation of (and also helping prepare) the banquet in
the kitchen – describe ozzy dishes and some ozzian ways in which they are
prepared.
There were three
Palace Chefs and each had a staff of cooks.
Chef Jeff was in charge of Soups and Sauces, one was in charge of
Elegant Entrees, and one was in charge of Pastries and Desserts.
To the Wizard's
right sat a young man dressed in a similar jacket but with two large brass
buttons. "I'm Number Nine,"
he told Glimpee, "the Wizard's apprentice and assistant. I hope to someday become as good a Wonder
Worker as the ol' Wiz himself!"
In addidtion to the
standard Emerald City (oz) celebrities, everyone that Glimpee met in his
travels is here – Mr. S.P. Lunker, Mewel, Davy Jones, Bleegum, Winkle, Blinkle,
Admiral Salt, Percy, etc. Not Puff-puff
and Bluebell. At banquet, everyone
makes an entrance – start with smallest or least impressive, end with Davy
Jones – the biggest!
Samuel Salt brings
enough pitchers of Nonentic pink lemonade so that there's plenty for
everyone. The transformed Mombi (from
Lucky Bucky) is also here.
Simon P. Lunker and
Mewel.
Big celebration
banquet/feast. “What would you like for
dessert?” Glimpee cannot decide what to
have for dessert.
“It all sounds
scrumptious! But I don’t think I could
eat everything. Oh, I just can't decide what to have.”
Chapter Twenty Two
Just Say Oz
After deliberation
and remembering seeing Ozcream shops in Emerald City,
“I think I’d (sure)
like to try some ozcream, please.” (different flavor with every bite)
The
New Chroncles of Oz continue in
The Saga of Samuel Salt
The Oz Books of L. Frank Baum:
The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The
Marvelous Land of Oz
Ozma
of Oz
Dorothy
and the Wizard in Oz
The
Road to Oz
The
Emerald City of Oz
The
Patchwork Girl of Oz
Tik-Tok
of Oz
The
Scarecrow of Oz
Rinkitink
in Oz
The
Lost Princess of Oz
The
Tin Woodman of Oz
The
Magic of Oz
Glinda
of Oz
The Oz Books of Ruth Plumly Thompson:
The
Royal Book of Oz
Kabumpo
in Oz
The
Cowardly Lion of Oz
Grampa
in Oz
The
Lost King of Oz
The
Hungry Tiger of Oz
The
Gnome King of Oz
The
Giant Horse of Oz
Jack
Pumpkinhead of Oz
The
Yellow Knight of Oz
Pirates
in Oz
The
Purple Prince of Oz
Ojo
in Oz
Speedy
in Oz
The
Wishing Horse of Oz
Captain
Salt in Oz
Handy
Mandy in Oz
The
Silver Princess in Oz
Ozoplaning
with the Wizard of Oz
The Oz Books of John R. Neill:
The
Wonder City of Oz
The
Scalawagons of Oz
Lucky
Bucky in Oz
The
Runaway in Oz
