Introduction
Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.
Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.
Having this thought in mind, the story of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.
L. Frank Baum
Chicago, April, 1900.
- Introduction
- 1. The Cyclone
- 3. How Dorothy Saved the Scarecrow
- 4. The Road Through the Forest
- 5. The Rescue of the Tin Woodman
- 6. The Cowardly Lion
- 7. The Journey to the Great Oz
- 8. The Deadly Poppy Field
- It was true; Toto had fallen down beside his little mistress. But the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, not being made of flesh, were not troubled by the scent of the flowers.
- 9. The Queen of the Field Mice
- 11. The Wonderful City of Oz
- In a wardrobe were many green dresses, made of silk and satin and velvet; and all of them fitted Dorothy exactly.
- It was not such an awful voice as she had expected to come from the big Head; so she took courage and answered:
- 12. The Search for the Wicked Witch
- It was lucky the Scarecrow and the Woodman were wide awake and heard the wolves coming.
- Instantly 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.
- 13. The Rescue
- It was a very tall tree, and the trunk was so smooth that no one could climb it; but the Woodman said at once, "I'll chop it down, and then we can get the Scarecrow's clothes."
- 14. The Winged Monkeys
- 15. The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible
- 16. The Magic Art of the Great Humbug
- 17. How the Balloon Was Launched
- 18. Away to the South
- 19. Attacked by the Fighting Trees
- 20. The Dainty China Country
- 22. The Country of the Quadlings
- 23. Glinda The Good Witch Grants Dorothy's Wish
- Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.
- 24. Home Again