Free L. Frank Baum_Oz 12 by The Tin Woodman of Oz Page B

and she said if I would run an errand for
her—to carry some magic medicine to another old woman—she would grant
me just one Wish, whatever the Wish happened to be. Of course I
consented and, taking the medicine, I hurried away. It was a long
distance, mostly up hill, and my legs began to grow weary. Without
thinking what I was doing I said aloud: 'Dear me; I wish I had twenty
legs!' and in an instant I became the unusual creature you see beside
you. Twenty legs! Twenty on one man! You may count them, if you doubt
my word."
    "You've got 'em, all right," said Woot the Monkey, who had already
counted them.
    "After I had delivered the magic medicine to the old woman, I returned
and tried to find the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was, who had
given me the unlucky wish, so she could take it away again. I've been
searching for her ever since, but never can I find her," continued poor
Tommy Kwikstep, sadly.
    "I suppose," said the Tin Owl, blinking at him, "you can travel very
fast, with those twenty legs."
    "At first I was able to," was the reply; "but I traveled so much,
searching for the fairy, or witch, or whatever she was, that I soon got
corns on my toes. Now, a corn on one toe is not so bad, but when you
have a hundred toes—as I have—and get corns on most of them, it is
far from pleasant. Instead of running, I now painfully crawl, and
although I try not to be discouraged I do hope I shall find that witch
or fairy, or whatever she was, before long."
    "I hope so, too," said the Scarecrow. "But, after all, you have the
pleasure of knowing you are unusual, and therefore remarkable among the
people of Oz. To be just like other persons is small credit to one,
while to be unlike others is a mark of distinction."
    "That sounds very pretty," returned Tommy Kwikstep, "but if you had to
put on ten pair of trousers every morning, and tie up twenty shoes, you
would prefer not to be so distinguished."
    "Was the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was, an old person, with
wrinkled skin and half her teeth gone?" inquired the Tin Owl.
    "No," said Tommy Kwikstep.
    "Then she wasn't Old Mombi," remarked the transformed Emperor.
    "I'm not interested in who it wasn't, so much as I am in who it was,"
said the twenty-legged young man. "And, whatever or whomsoever she was,
she has managed to keep out of my way."
    "If you found her, do you suppose she'd change you back into a
two-legged boy?" asked Woot.
    "Perhaps so, if I could run another errand for her and so earn another
wish."
    "Would you really like to be as you were before?" asked Polychrome the
Canary, perching upon the Green Monkey's shoulder to observe Tommy
Kwikstep more attentively.
    "I would, indeed," was the earnest reply.
    "Then I will see what I can do for you," promised the Rainbow's
Daughter, and flying to the ground she took a small twig in her bill
and with it made several mystic figures on each side of Tommy Kwikstep.
    "Are you a witch, or fairy, or something of the sort?" he asked as he
watched her wonderingly.
    The Canary made no answer, for she was busy, but the Scarecrow Bear
replied: "Yes; she's something of the sort, and a bird of a magician."
    The twenty-legged boy's transformation happened so queerly that they
were all surprised at its method. First, Tommy Kwikstep's last two legs
disappeared; then the next two, and the next, and as each pair of legs
vanished his body shortened. All this while Polychrome was running
around him and chirping mystical words, and when all the young man's
legs had disappeared but two he noticed that the Canary was still busy
and cried out in alarm:
    "Stop—stop! Leave me two of my legs, or I shall be worse off than
before."
    "I know," said the Canary. "I'm only removing with my magic the corns
from your last ten toes."
    "Thank you for being so thoughtful," he said gratefully, and now they
noticed that Tommy Kwikstep was quite a nice looking young fellow.
    "What will you do now?" asked Woot the Monkey.
    "First," he answered, "I must