The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Page 2

  OJO AND UNK NUNKIE

  CHAP. ONE

  "Where's the butter, Unc Nunkie?" asked Ojo.

  Unc looked out of the window and stroked his long beard. Then he turnedto the Munchkin boy and shook his head.

  "Isn't," said he.

  "Isn't any butter? That's too bad, Unc. Where's the jam then?" inquiredOjo, standing on a stool so he could look through all the shelves of thecupboard. But Unc Nunkie shook his head again.

  "Gone," he said.

  "No jam, either? And no cake--no jelly--no apples--nothing but bread?"

  "All," said Unc, again stroking his beard as he gazed from the window.

  The little boy brought the stool and sat beside his uncle, munching thedry bread slowly and seeming in deep thought.

  "Nothing grows in our yard but the bread tree," he mused, "and there areonly two more loaves on that tree; and they're not ripe yet. Tell me,Unc; why are we so poor?"

  The old Munchkin turned and looked at Ojo. He had kindly eyes, but hehadn't smiled or laughed in so long that the boy had forgotten that UncNunkie could look any other way than solemn. And Unc never spoke anymore words than he was obliged to, so his little nephew, who lived alonewith him, had learned to understand a great deal from one word.

  "Why are we so poor, Unc?" repeated the boy.

  "Not," said the old Munchkin.

  "I think we are," declared Ojo. "What have we got?"

  "House," said Unc Nunkie.

  "I know; but everyone in the Land of Oz has a place to live. What else,Unc?"

  "Bread."

  "I'm eating the last loaf that's ripe. There; I've put aside your share,Unc. It's on the table, so you can eat it when you get hungry. But whenthat is gone, what shall we eat, Unc?"

  The old man shifted in his chair but merely shook his head.

  "Of course," said Ojo, who was obliged to talk because his uncle wouldnot, "no one starves in the Land of Oz, either. There is plenty foreveryone, you know; only, if it isn't just where you happen to be, youmust go where it is."

  The aged Munchkin wriggled again and stared at his small nephew as ifdisturbed by his argument.

  "By to-morrow morning," the boy went on, "we must go where there issomething to eat, or we shall grow very hungry and become very unhappy."

  "Where?" asked Unc.

  "Where shall we go? I don't know, I'm sure," replied Ojo. "But _you_must know, Unc. You must have traveled, in your time, because you're soold. I don't remember it, because ever since I could remember anythingwe've lived right here in this lonesome, round house, with a littlegarden back of it and the thick woods all around. All I've ever seen ofthe great Land of Oz, Unc dear, is the view of that mountain over at thesouth, where they say the Hammerheads live--who won't let anybody go bythem--and that mountain at the north, where they say nobody lives."

  "One," declared Unc, correcting him.

  "Oh, yes; one family lives there, I've heard. That's the CrookedMagician, who is named Dr. Pipt, and his wife Margolotte. One year youtold me about them; I think it took you a whole year, Unc, to say asmuch as I've just said about the Crooked Magician and his wife. Theylive high up on the mountain, and the good Munchkin Country, where thefruits and flowers grow, is just the other side. It's funny you and Ishould live here all alone, in the middle of the forest, isn't it?"

  "Yes," said Unc.

  "Then let's go away and visit the Munchkin Country and its jolly,good-natured people. I'd love to get a sight of something besides woods,Unc Nunkie."

  "Too little," said Unc.

  "Why, I'm not so little as I used to be," answered the boy earnestly. "Ithink I can walk as far and as fast through the woods as you can, Unc.And now that nothing grows in our back yard that is good to eat, we mustgo where there is food."

  Unc Nunkie made no reply for a time. Then he shut down the window andturned his chair to face the room, for the sun was sinking behind thetree-tops and it was growing cool.

  By and by Ojo lighted the fire and the logs blazed freely in the broadfireplace. The two sat in the firelight a long time--the old,white-bearded Munchkin and the little boy. Both were thinking. When itgrew quite dark outside, Ojo said:

  "Eat your bread, Unc, and then we will go to bed."

  But Unc Nunkie did not eat the bread; neither did he go directly to bed.Long after his little nephew was sound asleep in the corner of the roomthe old man sat by the fire, thinking.