The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapters 12-15

Chapters 12-15

The Wicked Witch of the West has an eye that sees far into the distance, and she notices Dorothy and her friends sleeping in her land. She is angry and so she blows on a whistle around her neck and summons wolves and asks them to go and kill Dorothy and all her friends. The Tin Woodman who is awake and cannot be harmed by the wolves volunteers to fight them. He strikes them all down with his axe, one after the other, he kills all 40 wolves. The next day, the witch sends a huge murder of crows to kill Dorothy and her friends. The Scarecrow volunteers to fight the crows and when King Crow comes close and tries to pick the Scarecrow's eyes, the Scarecrow grabs the crow and twists its neck. He does this with all the crows and kills all 40 crows. The following day the witch sends a swarm of black bees, and Dorothy and her friends use the straw of the Scarecrow to cover themselves with the straw and the Tin Woodman is left outside, all the bees attack him, break their stings on his tin body and die.

Angered by the loss of her servants, the Witch finally sends the Winkies with spears to kill Dorothy and her friends, the Winkies attack but are scared away by the roar of the Cowardly Lion, and they return empty-handed to the witch, who punishes them. The witch at last resorts to the Golden Cap that summons the Winged Monkeys. The cap only allows the bearer to command the Winged Monkeys three times, and she had already used it twice before. Once to enslave the Winkies and once to chase away Oz from her land. The witch commands the Winged Monkeys to kill all the invaders except the Cowardly Lion, who should be brought back so that she can bend him to her will. The Winged Monkeys fly to the party and overpower them, they throw the Tin Woodman into a pit of rocks where he lies broken and dented. They scatter the straw of the Scarecrow and toss his clothes into a tall tree. They bind the Cowardly Lion with rope and carry him back to the castle where they deposit him in an enclosure. The King Winged Monkey recognises the mark on the forehead of Dorothy as belonging to the power of good, so he is afraid of harming her.

The Winged Monkeys carefully carry her to the castle and deposit her to the witch. The Wicked Witch is at once afraid of Dorothy's forehead mark and her shoes. Just as she is about to flee, she looks into Dorothy's face and realises that she is unaware of how to use her power, so she sentences her to work in the kitchens. Then the witch decides to starve the Lion until he agrees to be used as a horse.

The witch enviously watches Dorothy with her shoes, and plots to steal them from her, she notices that Dorothy only takes off her shoes when she bathes at night, but since the witch is afraid of both water and the dark, she makes another plan. She places an invisible bar of iron in the kitchen, Dorothy trips over the iron bar and loses one shoe, the witch stoops down and immediately grabs it. Dorothy is incredibly enraged by the theft and she dashes the witch with a bucket of water lying close by. The witch is mortally wounded by the water and to the complete shock of Dorothy, the Wicked Witch begins to melt.

Dorothy rushes out and recuses the Lion first and then calls the yellow Winkies and informs them of their liberation from the Wicked Witch. The winkies rejoice and celebrate the day as a holiday, and they help Dorothy rescue her friends. First, they fetch and repair the broken body of the Tin Woodman whose sorry state makes Dorothy cry. Next, they rescue the Scarecrow, the Winkies stuff the Scarecrow with fresh straw and all companions are reunited. The friends stay at the castle comfortably until Dorothy begins to miss her aunt, and so they resolve to return to Oz and ask him to grant their wishes. The Winkies are sad to see them leave, and they even ask the Tin Woodman to stay and to lead them as their ruler. Dorothy finds the Golden Cap of the witch, and because she likes its appearances, she puts it on and sets off with it.

Dorothy and her companions lose their way very quickly and find themselves in a never-ending field of yellow flowers. When they have nearly given up, Dorothy remembers the field mice and summons them using a whistle, the mice are accompanied by their queen. The queen suggests that they use the Golden Cap to summon the Winged Monkeys and explains how the underside of the cap has the written instructions. Dorothy carefully reads the instructions and manages to summon the Winged Monkeys who readily agree to transport them to the Emerald City. During the journey, Dorothy learns how the Winged Monkeys came to be bound to the Golden Cap. The King Winged Monkey explains how they had once lived in tall trees in the lands of a beautiful and wise princess and sorceress, Gayelette. The Winged Monkeys played a prank on the man that Gayelette was to marry, his name was Quelala. The princess had been enraged and had nearly ordered them thrown in the river but Quelala advocated for them and so they came to be bound to a Golden Cap that the sorceress made into a wedding present for Quelala. He was the first to wear the Cap and only ever gave them one command until the Wicked Witch of the West found the cap and used them to enslave the Winkies and chase away Oz. The Winged Monkeys deposit Dorothy and her companions at the gate and fly away.

The guardian takes them to the palace, and as they travel the news of their arrival and their deed spreads through the city until a procession begins to accompany them to the palace. At the palace they are welcomed and returned to their rooms, news is also taken to Oz. Surprisingly, Oz doesn't call them for a meeting, days go by and the friends grow impatient. The Scarecrow then has a message sent to Oz threatening him with an attack of the Winged Monkeys unless he agrees to give them an audience, Oz immediately concedes and calls them all for a meeting the following day.

They go into the throne room to find it empty with a disembodied voice that explains that Oz is invisible and seated on the throne. The companions demand their wishes be fulfilled but Oz requests for more time, none of them agrees, the Lion roars fiercely and Toto stumbles and falls into a screen in the room. The screen falls to reveal a small old man, the man is visibly afraid when the Tin Woodman charges him. He reveals to Dorothy and her companions that he is indeed Oz, but not truly a wizard. The scarecrow accuses him of being a humbug and Oz accepts the title readily, he reveals his past as a ventriloquist in Omaha, the skill that made him cast his voice from a paper head, a ball of fire, and a great beast made of skins sewn together.

He explains how he had changed professions after training as a ventriloquist to become a balloonist. Then one day lost control of the balloon and was carried by the wind until it began to descend on the beautiful land of Oz, here when he came down out of the clouds, all the people thought he was a great wizard. He took advantage of their gullibility and had them make a city, that he called the Emerald City and although the city was not completely green, everyone came to believe that it was because of the coloured spectacles. He had always been very afraid of the witches, and very happy to learn that Dorothy had killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and so only promised to fulfil her wishes to get her to kill the other Wicked Witch. The companions are all very displeased with Oz, but he agrees to try and help all of them fulfil their wishes, even Dorothy.

Analysis

How the witch tries to harm Dorothy and her friends is reminiscent of the biblical plagues, and so is the manner in which the Tin Woodman strikes down the wolves. The encounter with the Witch of the West is rather anticlimactic, as she doesn't harm Dorothy and her companions in any severe manner. This is certainly a deliberate choice by the author to ensure that his primary audience, children, are not made uncomfortable or scared by the harming of the protagonist.

We note that Dorothy suddenly has a whistle to call to the mice, it may be possible that the author was confused by the earlier chapters as the Wicked Witch of West had indeed used a whistle to summon the animals that served her.

The revelation that Oz is not a true wizard is disappointing not just because Dorothy and her friends realise they have to find a way to fulfil their wishes but also because they come to find out that the wonderful wizard they had looked up to was only just a humbug.