The Way Back to Kansas

Back in the Emerald City, the four friends went to see the Wizard again, eager to receive what he had promised them. As Toto wandered near a green screen in the corner of the room, he hit it, and the screen fell, revealing a small, ordinary old man working hard behind it. "You are not a giant head at all!" Dorothy cried, astonished. "You are only an ordinary man!"

The little man looked humble. "It is true," he confessed. "I am not really a wizard at all. I came to this land in a balloon, long ago, and the people believed I had powerful magic, so I let them go on believing it. I used this screen, and smoke, and a loud voice, to seem grand and powerful. I am sorry — I really can't help any of you." "But we need a brain, a heart, and courage!" cried the Scarecrow, filled with sudden despair.

The old man thought for a long moment, then smiled with sudden hope. "Perhaps I can still help, in my own humble way." He took some soft, ordinary things and a handful of pins, and put them carefully inside the Scarecrow's head. "Now you have something new to think with," he said. The Scarecrow felt his head with surprise. "I already feel wiser!" he said happily.

Next, the man cut a small, careful hole in the Tin Woodman's body and put a soft, red heart inside it. "Now you have a heart of your own," he said. The Tin Woodman rested his hand over it softly. "It feels warm," he said softly. "Thank you." Then the man gave the Lion a cup of strange green liquid. "Drink this," he said, "and courage will fill you." The Lion drank it all at once. "I feel braver already!" he roared, a roar so fierce and sudden that Toto ran under a chair.

"Now," said the man, "I will help Dorothy as well. I will build a balloon, and we will fly together, over the land, all the way back to Kansas." The next day, many people gathered to watch the man and Dorothy climb into the huge balloon. But just as it began to rise into the sky, Toto ran after a cat in the group, and Dorothy jumped out to catch him. The ropes came off, and the balloon rose into the sky alone — without Dorothy.

"Come back!" she cried, but it was already too late. The man was gone, carried off into the distant sky, and Dorothy remained behind in the Emerald City. She cried for a long time. Meanwhile, the people of the city had already asked the Scarecrow to become their new ruler, for he now had a fine brain, and could think of wise ways to help everyone. He had agreed, and the whole city held a splendid party in his honor. Yet even with a new home and new work, the Scarecrow never forgot his friend, and he came to comfort her. "Do not give up hope," he said softly. "There is still a way home. Far to the south lives a good witch named Glinda. Perhaps she can help you."

So Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion said farewell to the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, who now ruled their own kingdoms, and started walking toward the south. After a long journey, full of new companions and marvelous sights, they came at last to Glinda's splendid castle. Glinda was young and kind, with long, radiant red hair. She listened closely to Dorothy's whole story, then smiled.

"You have had the power to go home this whole time," she said. "Your silver shoes carry that power. Just close your eyes, and speak the words three times." "Really?" Dorothy asked, astonished. "Why did no one tell me this before?" "Because you needed to learn it for yourself," said Glinda softly. Dorothy hugged the Lion, who now ruled as king of a vast forest, and waved farewell one last time. Then she picked up Toto, closed her eyes, and said, "Take me home, take me home, take me home."

When she opened her eyes, the wind was strong, and she stood once again on the same gray fields of Kansas she had left so long ago. Her aunt and uncle ran to meet her, glad tears in their eyes. Toto barked with joy and ran in circles around her feet. "I'm home," Dorothy said, smiling through her own tears. "And I will never forget my friends in the wonderful land of Oz."