The Emerald City of Oz | Page 8

wait any
longer. Softly, they crept up the stairs to the door of the little girl's
room.
"Dorothy! Dorothy!" they called.
There was no answer.
They opened the door and looked in.
The room was empty.

3. How Ozma Granted Dorothy's Request
I suppose you have read so much about the magnificent Emerald City
that there is little need for me to describe it here. It is the Capital City
of the Land of Oz, which is justly considered the most attractive and
delightful fairyland in all the world.
The Emerald City is built all of beautiful marbles in which are set a
profusion of emeralds, every one exquisitely cut and of very great size.
There are other jewels used in the decorations inside the houses and
palaces, such as rubies, diamonds, sapphires, amethysts and turquoises.
But in the streets and upon the outside of the buildings only emeralds
appear, from which circumstance the place is named the Emerald City
of Oz. It has nine thousand, six hundred and fifty-four buildings, in
which lived fifty-seven thousand three hundred and eighteen people, up
to the time my story opens.
All the surrounding country, extending to the borders of the desert
which enclosed it upon every side, was full of pretty and comfortable
farmhouses, in which resided those inhabitants of Oz who preferred

country to city life.
Altogether there were more than half a million people in the Land of
Oz--although some of them, as you will soon learn, were not made of
flesh and blood as we are--and every inhabitant of that favored country
was happy and prosperous.
No disease of any sort was ever known among the Ozites, and so no
one ever died unless he met with an accident that prevented him from
living. This happened very seldom, indeed. There were no poor people
in the Land of Oz, because there was no such thing as money, and all
property of every sort belonged to the Ruler. The people were her
children, and she cared for them. Each person was given freely by his
neighbors whatever he required for his use, which is as much as any
one may reasonably desire. Some tilled the lands and raised great crops
of grain, which was divided equally among the entire population, so
that all had enough. There were many tailors and dressmakers and
shoemakers and the like, who made things that any who desired them
might wear. Likewise there were jewelers who made ornaments for the
person, which pleased and beautified the people, and these ornaments
also were free to those who asked for them. Each man and woman, no
matter what he or she produced for the good of the community, was
supplied by the neighbors with food and clothing and a house and
furniture and ornaments and games. If by chance the supply ever ran
short, more was taken from the great storehouses of the Ruler, which
were afterward filled up again when there was more of any article than
the people needed.
Every one worked half the time and played half the time, and the
people enjoyed the work as much as they did the play, because it is
good to be occupied and to have something to do. There were no cruel
overseers set to watch them, and no one to rebuke them or to find fault
with them. So each one was proud to do all he could for his friends and
neighbors, and was glad when they would accept the things he
produced.
You will know by what I have here told you, that the Land of Oz was a
remarkable country. I do not suppose such an arrangement would be

practical with us, but Dorothy assures me that it works finely with the
Oz people.
Oz being a fairy country, the people were, of course, fairy people; but
that does not mean that all of them were very unlike the people of our
own world. There were all sorts of queer characters among them, but
not a single one who was evil, or who possessed a selfish or violent
nature. They were peaceful, kind hearted, loving and merry, and every
inhabitant adored the beautiful girl who ruled them and delighted to
obey her every command.
In spite of all I have said in a general way, there were some parts of the
Land of Oz not quite so pleasant as the farming country and the
Emerald City which was its center. Far away in the South Country
there lived in the mountains a band of strange people called
Hammer-Heads, because they had no arms and used their flat heads to
pound any one who came near them. Their necks were like rubber, so
that they could shoot out their heads to quite a distance, and