Chapter XII. The Search for the Wicked Witch · page 21 2101Here they dropped the poor Woodman, who fell a great distance to the rocks, where he lay so battered and dented that he could neither move nor groan.102Others of the Monkeys caught the Scarecrow, and with their long fingers pulled all of the straw out of his clothes and head.103They made his hat and boots and clothes into a small bundle and threw it into the top branches of a tall tree.104The remaining Monkeys threw pieces of stout rope around the Lion and wound many coils about his body and head and legs, until he was unable to bite or scratch or struggle in any way.105Then they lifted him up and flew away with him to the Witch’s castle, where he was placed in a small yard with a high iron fence around it, so that he could not escape.106But Dorothy they did not harm at all.107She stood, with Toto in her arms, watching the sad fate of her comrades and thinking it would soon be her turn.108The leader of the Winged Monkeys flew up to her, his long, hairy arms stretched out and his ugly face grinning terribly; but he saw the mark of the Good Witch’s kiss upon her forehead and stopped short, motioning the others not to touch her.109“We dare not harm this little girl,” he said to them, “for she is protected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the Power of Evil.110All we can do is to carry her to the castle of the Wicked Witch and leave her there.”111So, carefully and gently, they lifted Dorothy in their arms and carried her swiftly through the air until they came to the castle, where they set her down upon the front doorstep.112Then the leader said to the Witch:113“We have obeyed you as far as we were able.114The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow are destroyed, and the Lion is tied up in your yard.115The little girl we dare not harm, nor the dog she carries in her arms.116Your power over our band is now ended, and you will never see us again.”117Then all the Winged Monkeys, with much laughing and chattering and noise, flew into the air and were soon out of sight.118The Wicked Witch was both surprised and worried when she saw the mark on Dorothy’s forehead, for she knew well that neither the Winged Monkeys nor she, herself, dare hurt the girl in any way.119She looked down at Dorothy’s feet, and seeing the Silver Shoes, began to tremble with fear, for she knew what a powerful charm belonged to them.120At first the Witch was tempted to run away from Dorothy; but she happened to look into the child’s eyes and saw how simple the soul behind them was, and that the little girl did not know of the wonderful power the Silver Shoes gave her.121So the Wicked Witch laughed to herself, and thought, “I can still make her my slave, for she does not know how to use her power.”122Then she said to Dorothy, harshly and severely:123“Come with me; and see that you mind everything I tell you, for if you do not I will make an end of you, as I did of the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow.”124Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castle until they came to the kitchen, where the Witch bade her clean the pots and kettles and sweep the floor and keep the fire fed with wood.125Dorothy went to work meekly, with her mind made up to work as hard as she could; for she was glad the Wicked Witch had decided not to kill her.126With Dorothy hard at work, the Witch thought she would go into the courtyard and harness the Cowardly Lion like a horse; it would amuse her, she was sure, to make him draw her chariot whenever she wished to go to drive.127But as she opened the gate the Lion gave a loud roar and bounded at her so fiercely that the Witch was afraid, and ran out and shut the gate again.128“If I cannot harness you,” said the Witch to the Lion, speaking through the bars of the gate, “I can starve you.129You shall have nothing to eat until you do as I wish.”130So after that she took no food to the imprisoned Lion; but every day she came to the gate at noon and asked, “Are you ready to be harnessed like a horse?”131And the Lion would answer, “No. If you come in this yard, I will bite you.”132The reason the Lion did not have to do as the Witch wished was that every night, while the woman was asleep, Dorothy carried him food from the cupboard.133After he had eaten he would lie down on his bed of straw, and Dorothy would lie beside him and put her head on his soft, shaggy mane, while they talked of their troubles and tried to plan some way to escape.134But they could find no way to get out of the castle, for it was constantly guarded by the yellow Winkies, who were the slaves of the Wicked Witch and too afraid of her not to do as she told them.135The girl had to work hard during the day, and often the Witch threatened to beat her with the same old umbrella she always carried in her hand.136But, in truth, she did not dare to strike Dorothy, because of the mark upon her forehead.checked by a teacher137The child did not know this, and was full of fear for herself and Toto.138Once the Witch struck Toto a blow with her umbrella and the brave little dog flew at her and bit her leg in return.139The Witch did not bleed where she was bitten, for she was so wicked that the blood in her had dried up many years before.140Dorothy’s life became very sad as she grew to understand that it would be harder than ever to get back to Kansas and Aunt Em again.141Sometimes she would cry bitterly for hours, with Toto sitting at her feet and looking into her face, whining dismally to show how sorry he was for his little mistress.142Toto did not really care whether he was in Kansas or the Land of Oz so long as Dorothy was with him; but he knew the little girl was unhappy, and that made him unhappy too.143Now the Wicked Witch had a great longing to have for her own the Silver Shoes which the girl always wore.144Her bees and her crows and her wolves were lying in heaps and drying up, and she had used up all the power of the Golden Cap; but if she could only get hold of the Silver Shoes, they would give her more power than all the other things she had lost.145She watched Dorothy carefully, to see if she ever took off her shoes, thinking she might steal them.146But the child was so proud of her pretty shoes that she never took them off except at night and when she took her bath.147The Witch was too much afraid of the dark to dare go in Dorothy’s room at night to take the shoes, and her dread of water was greater than her fear of the dark, so she never came near when Dorothy was bathing.148Indeed, the old Witch never touched water, nor ever let water touch her in any way.149But the wicked creature was very cunning, and she finally thought of a trick that would give her what she wanted.150She placed a bar of iron in the middle of the kitchen floor, and then by her magic arts made the iron invisible to human eyes.151So that when Dorothy walked across the floor she stumbled over the bar, not being able to see it, and fell at full length.152She was not much hurt, but in her fall one of the Silver Shoes came off; and before she could reach it, the Witch had snatched it away and put it on her own skinny foot.153The wicked woman was greatly pleased with the success of her trick, for as long as she had one of the shoes she owned half the power of their charm, and Dorothy could not use it against her, even had she known how to do so.154The little girl, seeing she had lost one of her pretty shoes, grew angry, and said to the Witch, “Give me back my shoe!”155“I will not,” retorted the Witch, “for it is now my shoe, and not yours.”156“You are a wicked creature!” cried Dorothy.157“You have no right to take my shoe from me.”158“I shall keep it, just the same,” said the Witch, laughing at her, “and someday I shall get the other one from you, too.”159This made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of water that stood near and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from head to foot.160Instantly the wicked woman gave a loud cry of fear, and then, as Dorothy looked at her in wonder, the Witch began to shrink and fall away.161“See what you have done!” she screamed.162“In a minute I shall melt away.”163“I’m very sorry, indeed,” said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to see the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes.164“Didn’t you know water would be the end of me?” asked the Witch, in a wailing, despairing voice.165“Of course not,” answered Dorothy.166“How should I?”167“Well, in a few minutes I shall be all melted, and you will have the castle to yourself.168I have been wicked in my day, but I never thought a little girl like you would ever be able to melt me and end my wicked deeds.169Look out—here I go!”170With these words the Witch fell down in a brown, melted, shapeless mass and began to spread over the clean boards of the kitchen floor.171Seeing that she had really melted away to nothing, Dorothy drew another bucket of water and threw it over the mess.172She then swept it all out the door.173After picking out the silver shoe, which was all that was left of the old woman, she cleaned and dried it with a cloth, and put it on her foot again.174Then, being at last free to do as she chose, she ran out to the courtyard to tell the Lion that the Wicked Witch of the West had come to an end, and that they were no longer prisoners in a strange land.1 2← previousChapter XI. 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