The Tin Woodman of Oz | Page 5

ask for something to eat."
"Bless the boy!" cried the Emperor of the Winkies; "how careless of me
not to remember that wanderers are usually hungry. I will have food
brought you at once."
Saying this he blew upon a tin whistle that was suspended from his tin
neck, and at the summons a servant appeared and bowed low. The Tin
Woodman ordered food for the stranger, and in a few minutes the
servant brought in a tin tray heaped with a choice array of good things
to eat, all neatly displayed on tin dishes that were polished till they
shone like mirrors. The tray was set upon a tin table drawn before the
throne, and the servant placed a tin chair before the table for the boy to
seat himself.
"Eat, friend Wanderer," said the Emperor cordially, "and I trust the
feast will be to your liking. I, myself, do not eat, being made in such
manner that I require no food to keep me alive. Neither does my friend
the Scarecrow. But all my Winkie people eat, being formed of flesh, as
you are, and so my tin cupboard is never bare, and strangers are always
welcome to whatever it contains."
The boy ate in silence for a time, being really hungry, but after his
appetite was somewhat satisfied, he said:
"How happened your Majesty to be made of tin, and still be alive?"
"That," replied the tin man, "is a long story."
"The longer the better," said the boy. "Won't you please tell me the
story?"
"If you desire it," promised the Tin Woodman, leaning back in his tin

throne and crossing his tin legs. "I haven't related my history in a long
while, because everyone here knows it nearly as well as I do. But you,
being a stranger, are no doubt curious to learn how I became so
beautiful and prosperous, so I will recite for your benefit my strange
adventures."
"Thank you," said Woot the Wanderer, still eating.
"I was not always made of tin," began the Emperor, "for in the
beginning I was a man of flesh and bone and blood and lived in the
Munchkin Country of Oz. There I was, by trade, a woodchopper, and
contributed my share to the comfort of the Oz people by chopping up
the trees of the forest to make firewood, with which the women would
cook their meals while the children warmed themselves about the fires.
For my home I had a little hut by the edge of the forest, and my life was
one of much content until I fell in love with a beautiful Munchkin girl
who lived not far away."
"What was the Munchkin girl's name?" asked Woot.
"Nimmie Amee. This girl, so fair that the sunsets blushed when their
rays fell upon her, lived with a powerful witch who wore silver shoes
and who had made the poor child her slave. Nimmie Amee was obliged
to work from morning till night for the old Witch of the East, scrubbing
and sweeping her hut and cooking her meals and washing her dishes.
She had to cut firewood, too, until I found her one day in the forest and
fell in love with her. After that, I always brought plenty of firewood to
Nimmie Amee and we became very friendly. Finally I asked her to
marry me, and she agreed to do so, but the Witch happened to overhear
our conversation and it made her very angry, for she did not wish her
slave to be taken away from her. The Witch commanded me never to
come near Nimmie Amee again, but I told her I was my own master
and would do as I pleased, not realizing that this was a careless way to
speak to a Witch.
"The next day, as I was cutting wood in the forest, the cruel Witch
enchanted my axe, so that it slipped and cut off my right leg."

"How dreadful!" cried Woot the Wanderer.
"Yes, it was a seeming misfortune," agreed the Tin Man, "for a
one-legged woodchopper is of little use in his trade. But I would not
allow the Witch to conquer me so easily. I knew a very skillful
mechanic at the other side of the forest, who was my friend, so I
hopped on one leg to him and asked him to help me. He soon made me
a new leg out of tin and fastened it cleverly to my meat body. It had
joints at the knee and at the ankle and was almost as comfortable as the
leg I had lost."
"Your friend must have been a wonderful workman!" exclaimed Woot.
"He was, indeed," admitted the Emperor. "He was a tinsmith by trade
and could make anything out of tin. When