The Lost Princess of Oz, Page 3

  The Troubles of Glinda the Good

  CHAPTER 2

  That same morning there was great excitement in the castle of thepowerful Sorceress of Oz, Glinda the Good. This castle, situated in theQuadling Country, far south of the Emerald City where Ozma ruled, was asplendid structure of exquisite marbles and silver grilles. Here theSorceress lived, surrounded by a bevy of the most beautiful maidens ofOz, gathered from all the four countries of that fairyland as well asfrom the magnificent Emerald City itself, which stood in the placewhere the four countries cornered.

  It was considered a great honor to be allowed to serve the goodSorceress, whose arts of magic were used only to benefit the Oz people.Glinda was Ozma's most valued servant, for her knowledge of sorcery waswonderful and she could accomplish almost anything that her mistress,the lovely girl Ruler of Oz, wished her to.

  Of all the magical things which surrounded Glinda in her castle therewas none more marvelous than her Great Book of Records. On the pages ofthis Record Book were constantly being inscribed--day by day and hour byhour--all the important events that happened anywhere in the knownworld, and they were inscribed in the book at exactly the moment theevents happened. Every adventure in the Land of Oz and in the bigoutside world, and even in places that you and I have never heard of,were recorded accurately in the Great Book, which never made a mistakeand stated only the exact truth. For that reason nothing could beconcealed from Glinda the Good, who had only to look at the pages of theGreat Book of Records to know everything that had taken place. That wasone reason she was such a great Sorceress, for the records made herwiser than any other living person.

  This wonderful book was placed upon a big gold table that stood in themiddle of Glinda's drawing-room. The legs of the table, which wereincrusted with precious gems, were firmly fastened to the tiled floorand the book itself was chained to the table and locked with six stoutgolden padlocks, the keys to which Glinda carried on a chain that wassecured around her own neck.

  The pages of the Great Book were larger in size than those of anAmerican newspaper and although they were exceedingly thin there were somany of them that they made an enormous, bulky volume. With its goldcover and gold clasps the book was so heavy that three men couldscarcely have lifted it. Yet this morning, when Glinda entered herdrawing-room after breakfast, with all her maidens trailing after her,the good Sorceress was amazed to discover that her Great Book of Recordshad mysteriously disappeared.

  Advancing to the table, she found the chains had been cut with somesharp instrument, and this must have been done while all in the castleslept. Glinda was shocked and grieved. Who could have done thiswicked, bold thing? And who could wish to deprive her of her Great Bookof Records?

  The Sorceress was thoughtful for a time, considering the consequences ofher loss. Then she went to her Room of Magic to prepare a charm thatwould tell her who had stolen the Record Book. But, when she unlockedher cupboards and threw open the doors, all of her magical instrumentsand rare chemical compounds had been removed from the shelves.

  The Sorceress was now both angry and alarmed. She sat down in a chairand tried to think how this extraordinary robbery could have takenplace. It was evident that the thief was some person of very greatpower, or the theft could never have been accomplished without herknowledge. But who, in all the Land of Oz, was powerful and skillfulenough to do this awful thing? And who, having the power, could alsohave an object in defying the wisest and most talented Sorceress theworld has ever known?

  Glinda thought over the perplexing matter for a full hour, at the end ofwhich time she was still puzzled how to explain it. But although herinstruments and chemicals were gone her _knowledge_ of magic had notbeen stolen, by any means, since no thief, however skillful, can rob oneof knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safesttreasure to acquire. Glinda believed that when she had time to gathermore magical herbs and elixirs and to manufacture more magicalinstruments she would be able to discover who the robber was, and whathad become of her precious Book of Records.

  "Whoever has done this," she said to her maidens, "is a very foolishperson, for in time he is sure to be found out and will then be severelypunished."

  She now made a list of the things she needed and dispatched messengersto every part of Oz with instructions to obtain them and bring them toher as soon as possible. And one of her messengers met the little Wizardof Oz, who was mounted on the back of the famous live Sawhorse and wasclinging to its neck with both his arms; for the Sawhorse was speedingto Glinda's castle with the velocity of the wind, bearing the news thatRoyal Ozma, Ruler of all the great Land of Oz, had suddenly disappearedand no one in the Emerald City knew what had become of her.

  "Also," said the Wizard, as he stood before the astonished Sorceress,"Ozma's Magic Picture is gone, so we cannot consult it to discover whereshe is. So I came to you for assistance as soon as we realized our loss.Let us look in the Great Book of Records."

  "Alas," returned the Sorceress sorrowfully, "we cannot do that, for theGreat Book of Records has also disappeared!"