The Tin Woodman of Oz | Page 7

not eat; I shall not have to make your bed, for tin does
not tire or require sleep; when we go to a dance, you will not get weary
before the music stops and say you want to go home. All day long,
while you are chopping wood in the forest, I shall be able to amuse
myself in my own way -- a privilege few wives enjoy. There is no
temper in your new head, so you will not get angry with me. Finally, I
shall take pride in being the wife of the only live Tin Woodman in all
the world!' Which shows that Nimmie Amee was as wise as she was
brave and beautiful."
"I think she was a very nice girl," said Woot the Wanderer. "But, tell
me, please, why were you not killed when you were chopped to
pieces?"
"In the Land of Oz," replied the Emperor, "no one can ever be killed. A
man with a wooden leg or a tin leg is still the same man; and, as I lost
parts of my meat body by degrees, I always remained the same person
as in the beginning, even though in the end I was all tin and no meat."
"I see," said the boy, thoughtfully. "And did you marry Nimmie
Amee?"
"No," answered the Tin Woodman, "I did not. She said she still loved
me, but I found that I no longer loved her. My tin body contained no
heart, and without a heart no one can love. So the Wicked Witch
conquered in the end, and when I left the Munchkin Country of Oz, the
poor girl was still the slave of the Witch and had to do her bidding day

and night."
"Where did you go?" asked Woot.
"Well, I first started out to find a heart, so I could love Nimmie Amee
again; but hearts are more scarce than one would think. One day, in a
big forest that was strange to me, my joints suddenly became rusted,
because I had forgotten to oil them. There I stood, unable to move hand
or foot. And there I continued to stand -- while days came and went --
until Dorothy and the Scarecrow came along and rescued me. They
oiled my joints and set me free, and I've taken good care never to rust
again."
"Who was this Dorothy?" questioned the Wanderer.
"A little girl who happened to be in a house when it was carried by a
cyclone all the way from Kansas to the Land of Oz. When the house
fell, in the Munchkin Country, it fortunately landed on the Wicked
Witch and smashed her flat. It was a big house, and I think the Witch is
under it yet."
"No," said the Scarecrow, correcting him, "Dorothy says the Witch
turned to dust, and the wind scattered the dust in every direction."
"Well," continued the Tin Woodman, "after meeting the Scarecrow and
Dorothy, I went with them to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of
Oz gave me a heart. But the Wizard's stock of hearts was low, and he
gave me a Kind Heart instead of a Loving Heart, so that I could not
love Nimmie Amee any more than I did when I was heartless."
"Couldn't the Wizard give you a heart that was both Kind and Loving?"
asked the boy.
"No; that was what I asked for, but he said he was so short on hearts,
just then, that there was but one in stock, and I could take that or none
at all. So I accepted it, and I must say that for its kind it is a very good
heart indeed."

"It seems to me," said Woot, musingly, "that the Wizard fooled you. It
can't be a very Kind Heart, you know."
"Why not?" demanded the Emperor.
"Because it was unkind of you to desert the girl who loved you, and
who had been faithful and true to you when you were in trouble. Had
the heart the Wizard gave you been a Kind Heart, you would have gone
back home and made the beautiful Munchkin girl your wife, and then
brought her here to be an Empress and live in your splendid tin castle."
The Tin Woodman was so surprised at this frank speech that for a time
he did nothing but stare hard at the boy Wanderer. But the Scarecrow
wagged his stuffed head and said in a positive tone:
"This boy is right. I've often wondered, myself, why you didn't go back
and find that poor Munchkin girl."
Then the Tin Woodman stared hard at his friend the Scarecrow. But
finally he said in a serious tone of voice:
"I must admit that never before have I thought of such a thing as