The Forest Monster of Oz Read online

  You've got to be taught to hate and fear. You've got to be taught from year to year, It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear-- You've got to be carefully taught!

  You've got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made And people whose skin is a different shade-- You've got to be carefully taught.

  You've got to be taught before it's too late, Before you are six or seven or eight, To hate all the people your relatives hate-- You've got to be carefully taught!

  Love is quite different. It grows by itself.

  It will grow like a weed On a mountain of stones; You don't have to feed Or put fat on its bones; It can live on a smile Or a note of a song; It may starve for a while, But it stumbles along, Stumbles along with its banner unfurled, The joy and the beauty, the hope of the world.

  --Oscar Hammerstein II

  THE FOREST MONSTER OF OZ

  By Bob Evans

  (author of _Dorothy's Mystical Adventures in Oz, Abducted to Oz_, etc.)

  and Chris Dulabone

  (author of _Toto in Oz, The Lunechien Forest of Oz_, etc.)

  Illustrated by Dore Meers

  Founded on and continuing the famous Oz stories by

  L. Frank Baum

  Royal Historian of Oz

  This book is dedicated toLachie Dunnwho first discovered the existence of Saber-Tooth Light-bulbs

  CHAPTER 1

  THE COWARDLY LION'S HEROIC DEED

  In all the world, there is no country or township known that can evercompare against the beauty and magnitude of the Marvelous Land of Oz.This is not a debatable issue. The Land of Oz is not only beautiful withthe glittering gemstones that are found commonplace in this remarkablefairyland, but its enchantment goes ever farther. In all the territoryof Oz, there is clean, fresh air and gorgeous trees and scenery. Thereis peace and quiet when such is desired, and there is high adventure andexcitement at other times. In Oz, no one ever grows older than hechooses, and death is practically unheard of. The country is situated inthe center of a vast continent, and is surrounded by an impassableDeadly Desert.

  Although the vast Deadly Desert Around Oz aptly prevents tourism fromabroad, those who are fortunate enough to live on the proper side ofthis sandy enigma will surely testify that the land is as no other.

  The country itself is divided into five distinct regions. The mostimportant of these is the Emerald City. This famous area lies in theexact center of the oblong land, and is home to the supreme ruler overOz. Her name is Ozma, and she is but a tiny child. Even so, no otherruler in any other country has ever been more respected, loved, orenvied. To the south of Ozma's remarkable palace is the QuadlingCountry. This is ruled over by a powerful Witch named Glinda the Good.In the Quadling Country, red is the favored color, and most of thebuildings, walls and furniture are distinctly red in hue. To the westlies the Winkie Country, which is a land where everything is bright andyellow-colored. To the north is the purple Gillikin territory, and tothe east live the Munchkins. Among these little people, blue was clearlythe color of preference.

  It is to this easternmost region that I wish to direct your attention.It was in the blue Munchkin Country of Oz that a house happened to fallfrom the sky and land with a loud crash atop a most unfortunate WickedWitch.

  Now although this particular Wicked Witch was about as repugnant as theycome, and her evil doings had brought more misery to more people thancan possibly be recorded in these few pages, it was still rather sad tosee her wicked legacy brought to such an abrupt close. Especially as theparticular house that happened to squish her was one which belonged to atiny little girl named Dorothy Gale. To think that a mere toddler couldbring an end to the story of the Wicked Witch of the East!

  But the story did not exactly end there. It seems that, before such timeas the old woman's liveliness was shmushed by little Dorothy's home, shehad left a little souvenir to remember her by. Actually, it was quite alarge souvenir!

  She and her equally-vile sister Allidap, the Wicked Witch of the West,had created the souvenir to do battle with the Wonderful Wizard of Ozhimself. Had it not been for the Wizard's powerful magic charms, he maywell have been defeated. But thanks to his magic, the Wizard of Oz wasable to thwart the attacks of the Witches and banish their souvenir to aforest that lay in the southern land of the Quadlings. But fearing theWitches may try to attack him again, the Wizard hid himself away in theglorious Emerald City and became a hermit.

  Then, one day, Dorothy's house came down and whumped out the WickedWitch of the East. This, needless to say, was not a healthy situationfor the Wicked Witch. Little Dorothy was advised in the Munchkin Countryto head for the central city and seek out the reclusive old Wizard,being told that he alone could help her to get home to Kansas.

  It was a long and difficult journey, but the child was equal to thechallenge. Along the way, she chanced to meet up with the Cowardly Lion.He was a formerly respected leader of the Animal Kingdom, but thisparticular lion had fallen into disgrace due to his outlandishlyunkinglike cowardice. He and the little girl became fast friends, andthey journeyed together in search of Oz and, later on, Glinda the Good.It was on their journey to locate Glinda the Good that they happened tostray into the very forest where the Witches' souvenir was staying. Asthey walked through the vast forest, a large and tawny tiger approachedthe Cowardly Lion and bowed subjectively before him.

  "Welcome, O King of Beasts!" quoth the tiger. "You have come in goodtime to fight our enemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forestonce more."

  "What is your trouble?" asked the Cowardly Lion in a quiet voice.

  "We are all threatened," answered the tiger, "by a fierce enemy whichhas lately come into this forest. It is a most tremendous Monster, likea great spider, with a body as big as an elephant and legs as long as atree trunk. It has eight of these long legs, and as the Monster crawlsthrough the forest he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it to hismouth, where he eats it as a spider does a fly. Not one of us is safewhile this fierce creature is alive, and we had called a meeting todecide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us."

  The Cowardly Lion thought over the situation carefully.

  "Are there any other lions in this forest?" he enquired.

  "No; there were some, but the Monster has eaten them all. And, besides,they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you."

  The Lion got an idea that he hoped would help him overcome his disgrace.

  "If I put an end to your enemy," he began, "will you bow down to me andobey me as King of the Forest?"

  "We will do that gladly," returned the big tiger. The rest of the forestanimals voiced assent.

  "Where is this great spider of yours now?" asked the Cowardly Lionbravely.

  "Yonder," said the tiger, indicating with a tawny paw, "among the oaktrees."

  The Cowardly Lion overcame his fear and ignored the trepidation withinhis heart. He came upon the Forest Monster shortly thereafter. Eventhough it was sound asleep, it was the most ghastly sight that theCowardly Lion had ever laid eyes on. It was huge, black and furry. Itwas filthy, too. Its putrid smell had the Lion reeling in spite ofhimself. But he pressed onward. The snores of the ugly Monster revealedits razor-sharp fangs which measured in at at least a foot long. Itspowerful legs were as muscular as those of a Hercules and were as bigaround as a house and as long as the trunk of a tree. The claws on theend of its eight enormous legs were curved and as sharp as scimit
ars. Itwas quite the sort of thing that nightmares are made of.

  But the Cowardly Lion noticed that the Forest Monster had one weakness.He was observant enough to notice that, though the spider was so muchlarger than any other spider he had ever seen, its neck was as slenderas a wasp's waist. Given this obvious oversight on the part of theWicked Witches who had designed him, the Forest Monster suddenly seemedless Monstrous to the Cowardly Lion. With a leap and a single blow ofhis mighty paw, he knocked the Forest Monster's head clean off! He thenwatched the writhing body until its legs stopped wiggling and he knewthat it was quite dead.

  "_With a leap and a single blow of his mighty paw, heknocked the Forest Monster's head clean off!"_]