The Marvelous Land of Oz | Page 4

pumpkins in Mombi's corn-fields, lying golden red among the rows of green
stalks; and these had been planted and carefully tended that the four-horned cow might
eat of them in the winter time. But one day, after the corn had all been cut and stacked,
and Tip was carrying the pumpkins to the stable, he took a notion to make a "Jack
Lantern" and try to give the old woman a fright with it.
So he selected a fine, big pumpkin -- one with a lustrous, orange-red color -- and began
carving it. With the point of his knife he made two round eyes, a three-cornered nose, and
Line-Art Drawing

10 a mouth shaped like a new moon. The face, when completed, could not have been
considered strictly beautiful; but it wore a smile so big and broad, and was so Jolly in
expression, that even Tip laughed as he looked admiringly at his work.
The child had no playmates, so he did not know that boys often dig out the inside of a
"pumpkin-jack," and in the space thus made put a lighted candle to render the face more
startling; but he conceived an idea of his own that promised to be quite as effective. He
decided to manufacture the form of a man, who would wear this pumpkin head, and to
stand it in a place where old Mombi would meet it face to face.
"And then," said Tip to himself, with a laugh, "she'll squeal louder than the brown pig
does when I pull her tail, and shiver with fright worse than I did last year when I had the
ague!"
He had plenty of time to accomplish this task, for Mombi had gone to a village -- to buy

groceries, she said -- and it was a journey of at least two days.
So he took his axe to the forest, and selected some stout, straight saplings, which he cut
down and trimmed of all their twigs and leaves. From these he would make the arms, and
legs, and feet of his man. For the body he stripped a sheet of thick

11 bark from around a big tree, and with much labor fashioned it into a cylinder of about
the right size, pinning the edges together with wooden pegs. Then, whistling happily as
he worked, he carefully jointed the limbs and fastened them to the body with pegs
whittled into shape with his knife.
By the time this feat had been accomplished it began to grow dark, and Tip remembered
he must milk the cow and feed the pigs. So he picked up his wooden man and carried it
back to the house with him.
During the evening, by the light of the fire in the kitchen, Tip carefully rounded all the
edges of the joints and smoothed the rough places in a neat and workmanlike manner.
Then he stood the figure up against the wall and admired it. It seemed remarkably tall,
even for a full-grown man; but that was a good point in a small boy's eyes, and Tip did
not object at all to the size of his creation.
Next morning, when he looked at his work again, Tip saw he had forgotten to give the
dummy a neck, by means of which he might fasten the pumpkinhead to the body. So he
went again to the forest, which was not far away, and chopped from a tree several pieces
of wood with which to complete his work. When he returned he fastened a cross-piece

12 to the upper end of the body, making a hole through the center to hold upright the
neck. The bit of wood which formed this neck was also sharpened at the upper end, and
when all was ready Tip put on the pumpkin head, pressing it well down onto the neck,
and found that it fitted very well. The head could be turned to one side or the other, as he
pleased, and the hinges of the arms and legs allowed him to place the dummy in any
position he desired.
"Now, that," declared Tip, proudly, "is really a very fine man, and it ought to frighten
several screeches out of old Mombi! But it would be much more lifelike if it were
properly dressed."
To find clothing seemed no easy task; but Tip boldly ransacked the great chest in which
Mombi kept all her keepsakes and treasures, and at the very bottom he discovered some
purple trousers, a red shirt and a pink vest which was dotted with white spots. These he
carried away to his man and succeeded, although the garments did not fit very well, in
dressing the creature in a jaunty fashion. Some knit stockings belonging to Mombi and a