patches might run into each other and become
just a blur--no color at all, you know."

"Then," said the Patchwork Girl, "I'll be
careful, for if I spoiled my splendid colors I

would cease to be beautiful."
"Pah!" sneered the Glass Cat, "such colors are

not beautiful; they're ugly, and in bad taste.
Please notice that my body has no color at all.

I'm transparent, except for my exquisite red heart
and my lovely pink brains--you can see 'em work."

"Shoo-shoo-shoo!" cried Scraps, dancing
around and laughing. "And your horrid green eyes,

Miss Bungle! You can't see your eyes, but we can,
and I notice you're very proud of what little

color you have. Shoo, Miss Bungle, shoo-shoo-shoo!
If you were all colors and many colors, as I am,

you'd be too stuck up for anything." She leaped
over the cat and back again, and the startled

Bungle crept close to a tree to escape her. This
made Scraps laugh more heartily than ever, and she

said:
"Whoop-tedoodle-doo!

The cat has lost her shoe.
Her tootsie's bare, but she don't care,

So what's the odds to you?"
"Dear me, Ojo," said the cat; "don't you think

the creature is a little bit crazy?"
"It may be," he answered, with a puzzled look.

"If she continues her insults I'll scratch off
her suspender-button eyes," declared the cat.

"Don't quarrel, please," pleaded the boy, rising
to resume the journey. "Let us be good comrades

and as happy and cheerful as possible, for we are
likely to meet with plenty of trouble on our way."

It was nearly sundown when they came to the edge
of the forest and saw spread out before them a

delightful landscape. There were broad blue fields
stretching for miles over the valley, which was

dotted everywhere with pretty, blue domed houses,
none of which, however, was very near to the place

where they stood. Just at the point where the path
left the forest stood a tiny house covered with

leaves from the trees, and before this stood a
Munchkin man with an axe in his hand. He seemed

very much surprised when Ojo and Scraps and the
Glass Cat came out of the woods, but as the

Patchwork Girl approached nearer he sat down upon
a bench and laughed so hard that he could not

speak for a long time.
This man was a woodchopper and lived all alone

in the little house. He had bushy blue whiskers
and merry blue eyes and his blue clothes were quite

old and worn.
"Mercy me!" exclaimed the woodchopper, when at

last he could stop laughing. "Who would think such
a funny harlequin lived in the Land of Oz? Where

did you come from, Crazy-quilt?"
"Do you mean me?" asked the Patchwork Girl.

"Of course," he replied.
"You misjudge my ancestry. I'm not a crazy-

quilt; I'm patchwork," she said.
"There's no difference," he replied, beginning

to laugh again. "When my old grandmother sews such
things together she calls it a crazy-quilt; but I

never thought such a jumble could come to life."
"It was the Magic Powder that did it," explained

Ojo.
"Oh, then you have come from the Crooked

Magician on the mountain. I might have known it,
for--Well, I declare! here's a glass cat. But the

Magician will get in trouble for this; it's
against the law for anyone to work magic except

Glinda the Good and the royal Wizard of Oz. If you
people--or things--or glass spectacles--or crazy-

quilts--or whatever you are, go near the Emerald
City, you'll be arrested."

"We're going there, anyhow," declared
Scraps, sitting upon the bench and swinging her

stuffed legs.
"If any of us takes a rest,

We'll be arrested sure,
And get no restitution

'Cause the rest we must endure."
"I see," said the woodchopper, nodding; "you're

as crazy as the crazy-quilt you're made of."
"She really is crazy," remarked the Glass Cat.

"But that isn't to he wondered at when you
remember how many different things she's made of.

For my part, I'm made of pure glass--except my
jewel heart and my pretty pink brains. Did you

notice my brains, stranger? You can see em work."
"So I can," replied the woodchopper; "but I

can't see that they accomplish much. A glass cat
is a useless sort of thing, but a Patchwork Girl

is really useful. She makes me laugh, and laughter
is the best thing in life. There was once a

woodchopper, a friend of mine, who was made all of
tin, and I used to laugh every time I saw him."

"A tin woodchopper?" said Ojo. "That is
strange."

"My friend wasn't always tin," said the man,
"but he was careless with his axe, and used to

chop himself very badly. Whenever he lost an arm
or a leg he had it replaced with tin; so after a

while he was all tin."
"And could he chop wood then?" asked the boy.

"He could if he didn't rust his tin joints. But
one day he met Dorothy in the forest and went with

her to the Emerald City, where he made his
fortune. He is now one of the favorites of

Princess Ozma, and she has made him the Emperor of
the Winkies--the Country where all is yellow."

"Who is Dorothy?" inquired the Patchwork Girl.
"A little maid who used to live in Kansas, but

is now a Princess of Oz. She's Ozma's best
friend, they say, and lives with her in the royal

palace."
"Is Dorothy made of tin?" inquired Ojo.

"Is she patchwork, like me?" inquired Scraps.
"No," said the man; "Dorothy is flesh, just as I

am. I know of only one tin person, and that is
Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman; and there will

never be but one Patchwork Girl, for any magician
that sees you will refuse to make another one like

you."
"I suppose we shall see the Tin Woodman, for we

are going to the Country of the Winkies," said the
boy.

"What for?" asked the woodchopper.
"To get the left wing of a yellow butterfly."

"It is a long journey," declared the man, "and
you will go through lonely parts of Oz and cross

rivers and traverse dark forests before you get
there."

"Suits me all right," said Scraps. "I'll get a
chance to see the country."

"You're crazy, girl. Better crawl into a rag-bag
and hide there; or give yourself to some little

girl to play with. Those who travel are likely to
meet trouble; that's why I stay at home."

The woodchopper then invited them all to
stay the night at his little hut, but they were

anxious to get on and so left him and continued
along the path, which was broader, now, and

more distinct.
They expected to reach some other house before

it grew dark, but the twilight was brief and Ojo
soon began to fear they had made a mistake in

leaving the woodchopper.
"I can scarcely see the path," he said at last.

"Can you see it, Scraps?"
"No," replied the Patchwork Girl, who was

holding fast to the boy's arm so he could
guide her.

"I can see," declared the Glass Cat. "My eyes
are better than yours, and my pink brains--"

"Never mind your pink brains, please," said
Ojo hastily; "just run ahead and show us the

way. Wait a minute and I'll tie a string to you;
for then you can lead us."

He got a string from his pocket and tied it
around the cat's neck, and after that the creature

guided them along the path. They had proceeded in
this way for about an hour when a twinkling blue

light appeared ahead of them.
"Good! there's a house at last," cried Ojo.

"When we reach it the good people will surely
welcome us and give us a night's lodging." But

however far they walked the light seemed to get
no nearer, so by and by the cat stopped short,

saying:
"I think the light is traveling, too, and we

shall never be able to catch up with it. But here
is a house by the roadside, so why go farther?"

"Where is the house, Bungle?"
"Just here beside us, Scraps."

Ojo was now able to see a small house near
the pathway. It was dark and silent, but the boy

was tired and wanted to rest, so he went up to
the door and knocked.

"Who is there?" cried a voice from within.
"I am Ojo the Unlucky, and with me are

Miss Scraps Patchwork and the Glass Cat," he
replied.

"What do you want?" asked the Voice.
"A place to sleep," said Ojo.

"Come in, then; but don't make any noise,
and you must go directly to bed," returned the

Voice.
Ojo unlatched the door and entered. It was

very dark inside and he could see nothing at all.
But the cat exclaimed: "Why, there's no one

here!"
"There must be," said the boy. "Some one

spoke to me."
"I can see everything in the room," replied the

cat, "and no one is present but ourselves. But
here are three beds, all made up, so we may as

well go to sleep."
"What is sleep?" inquired the Patchwork Girl.

"It's what you do when you go to bed," said Ojo.

• scratch [skrætʃ] v.&n.抓，搔；抓伤 (初中英语单词)
• cheerful [´tʃiəful] a.快乐的；高兴的 (初中英语单词)
• valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
• grandmother [´græn,mʌðə] n.(外)祖母 (初中英语单词)
• whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
• useless [´ju:sləs] a.无用的，无价值的 (初中英语单词)
• careless [´keəlis] a.粗心的；草率的 (初中英语单词)
• whenever [wen´evə] conj.&ad.无论何时 (初中英语单词)
• emperor [´empərə] n.皇帝 (初中英语单词)
• princess [,prin´ses] n.公主；王妃；亲王夫人 (初中英语单词)
• lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
• twilight [´twailait] n.黎明；黄昏 (初中英语单词)
• hastily [´heistili] ad.急速地；草率地 (初中英语单词)
• transparent [træns´peərənt] a.透明的；显而易见的 (高中英语单词)
• exquisite [ik´skwizit] a.精巧的；敏锐的 (高中英语单词)
• horrid [´hɔrid] a.令人讨厌的；极糟的 (高中英语单词)
• heartily [´hɑ:tili] ad.衷心地；亲切地 (高中英语单词)
• landscape [´lændskeip] n.风景；景色；风景画 (高中英语单词)
• kansas [´kænzəs] n.堪萨斯(州) (高中英语单词)
• traverse [´trævə:s] vt.横越，穿过 (高中英语单词)
• wizard [´wizəd] n.术士；男巫 (英语四级单词)
• emerald [´emərəld] n.纯绿宝石；翠绿色 (英语四级单词)
• roadside [´rəudsaid] n.&a.路边(的) (英语四级单词)
• pathway [´pɑ:θwei] n.小路 (英语四级单词)
• unlucky [ʌn´lʌki] a.倒霉的，不幸的 (英语四级单词)
• sundown [´sʌndaun] n.日落 (英语六级单词)
• jumble [´dʒʌmbəl] n.搞乱，混乱 (英语六级单词)
• woodman [´wudmən] n.伐木工 (英语六级单词)