favor and I will grant it."
"I--I want three hairs from the tip of your

tail," said Ojo, with some hesitation.
"Three hairs! Why, that's all I have--on my

tail or anywhere else," exclaimed the beast.
"I know; but I want them very much."

"They are my sole ornaments, my prettiest
feature," said the Woozy, uneasily. "If I give

up those three hairs I--I'm just a blockhead."
"Yet I must have them," insisted the boy,

firmly, and he then told the Woozy all about the
accident to Unc Nunkie and Margolotte, and how the

three hairs were to be a part of the magic charm
that would restore them to life. The beast

listened with attention and when Ojo had finished
the recital it said, with a sigh.

"I always keep my word, for I pride myself on
being square. So you may have the three hairs, and

welcome. I think, under such circumstances, it
would be selfish in me to refuse you."

"Thank you! Thank you very much," cried
the boy, joyfully. "May I pull out the hairs

now?"
"Any time you like," answered the Woozy.

So Ojo went up to the queer creature and
taking hold of one of the hairs began to pull.

He pulled harder. He pulled with all his might;
but the hair remained fast.

"What's the trouble?" asked the Woozy,
which Ojo had dragged here and there all

around the clearing in his endeavor to pull out
the hair.

"It won't come," said the boy, panting.
"I was afraid of that," declared the beast.

"You'll have to pull harder."
"I'll help you," exclaimed Scraps, coming to

the boy's side. "You pull the hair, and I'll pull
you, and together we ought to get it out easily."

"Wait a jiffy," called the Woozy, and then
it went to a tree and hugged it with its front

paws, so that its body couldn't be dragged
around by the pull. "All ready, now. Go ahead!"

Ojo grasped the hair with both hands and
pulled with all his strength, while Scraps seized

the boy around his waist and added her strength
to his. But the hair wouldn't budge. Instead, it

slipped out of Ojo's hands and he and Scraps
both rolled upon the ground in a heap and never

stopped until they bumped against the rocky
cave.

"Give it up," advised the Glass Cat, as the
boy arose and assisted the Patchwork Girl to her

feet. "A dozen strong men couldn't pull out
those Hairs. I believe they're clinched on the

under side of the Woozy's thick skin."
"Then what shall I do?" asked the boy,

despairingly. "If on our return I fail to take
these three hairs to the Crooked Magician, the

other things I have come to seek will be of no
use at all, and we cannot restore Unc Nunkie

and Margolotte to life."
"They're goners, I guess," said the Patchwork

Girl.
"Never mind," added the cat. "I can't see that

old Unc and Margolotte are worth all this trouble,
anyhow."

But Ojo did not feel that way. He was so
disheartened that he sat down upon a stump and

began to cry.
The Woozy looked at the boy thoughtfully.

"Why don't you take me with you?" asked the
beast. "Then, when at last you get to the

Magician's house, he can surely find some way to
pull out those three hairs."

Ojo was overjoyed at this suggestion.
"That's it!" he cried, wiping away the tears

and springing to his feet with a smile. "If I take
the three hairs to the Magician, it won't matter

if they are still in your body."
"It can't matter in the least," agreed the

Woozy.
"Come on, then," said the boy, picking up his

basket; "let us start at once. I have several other
things to find, you know."

But the Class Cat gave a little laugh and
inquired in her scornful way:

"How do you intend to get the beast out of this
forest?"

That puzzled them all for a time.
"Let us go to the fence, and then we may find a

way," suggested Scraps. So they walked through the
forest to the fence, reaching it at a point

exactly opposite that where they had entered the
enclosure.

"How did you get in?" asked the Woozy.
"We climbed over," answered Ojo.

"I can't do that," said the beast. "I'm a very
swift runner, for I can overtake a honey-bee as

it flies; and I can jump very high, which is the
reason they made such a tall fence to keep me

in. But I can't climb at all, and I'm too big to
squeeze between the bars of the fence."

Ojo tried to think what to do.
"Can you dig?" he asked.

"No," answered the Woozy, "for I have no
claws. My feet are quite flat on the bottom of

them. Nor can I gnaw away the boards, as I
have no teeth."

"You're not such a terrible creature, after all,"
remarked Scraps.

"You haven't heard me growl, or you wouldn't say
that," declared the Woozy. "When I growl, the

sound echoes like thunder all through the valleys
and woodlands, and children tremble with fear, and

women cover their heads with their aprons, and big
men run and hide. I suppose there is nothing in

the world so terrible to listen to as the growl of
a Woosy."

"Please don't growl, then," begged Ojo,
earnestly.

"There is no danger of my growling, for
I am not angry. Only when angry do I utter

my fearful, ear-splitting, soul-shuddering growl.
Also, when I am angry, my eyes flash fire,

whether I growl or not."
"Real fire?" asked Ojo.

"Of course, real fire. Do you suppose they'd
flash imitation fire?" inquired the Woozy, in an

injured tone.
"In that case, I've solved the riddle," cried

Scraps, dancing with glee. "Those fence-boards
are made of wood, and if the Woozy stands

close to the fence and lets his eyes flash fire,
they might set fire to the fence and burn it up.

Then he could walk away with us easily, being
free."

"Ah, I have never thought of that plan, or I
would have been free long ago," said the Woozy.

"But I cannot flash fire from my eyes unless I am
very angry."

"Can't you get angry 'bout something, please?"
asked Ojo.

"I'll try. You just say 'Krizzle-Kroo' to me."
"Will that make you angry?" inquired the boy~.

"Terribly angry."
"What does it mean?" asked Scraps.

"I don't know; that's what makes me so angry,"
re-plied the Woozy.

He then stood close to the fence, with his
head near one of the boards, and Scraps called out

"Krizzle-Kroo!" Then Ojo said "Krizzle-Kroo!"
and the Glass Cat said "Krizzle-Kroo!" The Woozy

began to tremble with anger and small sparks
darted from his eyes. Seeing this, they all cried

"Krizzle-Kroo!" together, and that made the
beast's eyes flash fire so fiercely that the

fence-board caught the sparks and began to smoke.
Then it burst into flame, and the Woozy stepped

back and said triumphantly:
"Aha! That did the business, all right. It was

a happy thought for you to yell all together, for
that made me as angry as I have ever been.

Fine sparks, weren't they?"
"Reg'lar fireworks," replied Scraps, admiringly.

In a few moments the board had burned to a
distance of several feet, leaving an opening big

enough for them all to pass through. Ojo broke
some branches from a tree and with them

whipped the fire until it was extinguished.
"We don't want to burn the whole fence

down," said he, "for the flames would attract
the attention of the Munchkin farmers, who

would then come and capture the Woozy again.
I guess they'll be rather surprised when they

find he's escaped."
"So they will," declared the Woozy, chuckling

gleefully. "When they find I'm gone the farmers
will be badly scared, for they'll expect me to eat

up their honey-bees, as I did before."
"That reminds me," said the boy, "that you must

promise not to eat honey-bees while you are in our
company."

"None at all?"
"Not a bee. You would get us all into trouble,

and we can't afford to have any more trouble than
is necessary. I'll feed you all the bread and

cheese you want, and that must satisfy you."
"All right; I'll promise," said the Woozy,

cheerfully. "And when I promise anything you
can depend on it, 'cause I'm square."

"I don't see what difference that makes,"
observed the Patchwork Girl, as they found the

path and continued their journey. "The shape
doesn't make a thing honest, does it?"

"Of course it does," returned the Woozy, very
decidedly. "No one could trust that Crooked

Magician, for instance, just because he is
crooked; but a square Woozy couldn't do anything

crooked if he wanted to."
"I am neither square nor crooked," said

Scraps, looking down at her plump body.

• anywhere [´eniweə] ad.无论何处；任何地方 (初中英语单词)
• restore [ri´stɔ:] vt.(使)恢复；修复 (初中英语单词)
• selfish [´selfiʃ] a.自私的，利己的 (初中英语单词)
• thunder [´θʌndə] n.雷 vi.打雷 vt.吼出 (初中英语单词)
• fearful [´fiəfəl] a.可怕的；担心的 (初中英语单词)
• fiercely [´fiəsli] ad.凶猛地，残忍地 (初中英语单词)
• opening [´əupəniŋ] n.开放；开端 a.开始的 (初中英语单词)
• capture [´kæptʃə] vt.&n.捕获；俘获；夺取 (初中英语单词)
• instance [´instəns] n.例子，实例，例证 (初中英语单词)
• crooked [´krukid] a.弯曲的；畸形的 (高中英语单词)
• magician [mə´dʒiʃən] n.魔法师；妖道；术士 (高中英语单词)
• runner [´rʌnə] n.奔跑者；走私人(船) (高中英语单词)
• overtake [,əuvə´teik] vt.追上；赶上 (高中英语单词)
• imitation [,imi´teiʃən] n.模仿；仿制品；赝品 (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
• joyfully [´dʒɔifuli] ad.高兴地，快乐地 (英语四级单词)
• clearing [´kliəriŋ] n.(森林中的)空旷地 (英语四级单词)
• uneasily [ʌn´i:zili] ad.不安地；局促地 (英语六级单词)
• recital [ri´saitl] n.背诵；叙述；音乐会 (英语六级单词)
• scornful [´skɔ:nful] a.轻蔑的，藐视的 (英语六级单词)