有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第9章

And that was the last any of them ever sawof Oz, the Wonderful Wizard, though he may have reached Omaha safely, and bethere now, for all we know. But the people remembered him lovingly, and said toone another:

“Oz was always our friend. When he was herehe built for us this beautiful Emerald City, and now he is gone he has left theWise Scarecrow to rule over us.”

Still, for many days they grieved over theloss of the Wonderful Wizard, and would not be comforted.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第8章

She was within a few steps of it, and Ozwas holding out his hands to help her into the basket, when, crack! went theropes, and the balloon rose into the air without her.

“Come back!” she screamed. “I want to go,too!”

“I can’t come back, my dear,” called Ozfrom the basket. “Good-bye!”

“Good-bye!” shouted everyone, and all eyeswere turned upward to where the Wizard was riding in the basket, rising everymoment farther and farther into the sky.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第7章

Then Oz got into the basket and said to allthe people in a loud voice: “I am now going away to make a visit. While Iam gone the Scarecrow will rule over you. I command you to obey him as youwould me.”

The balloon was by this time tugging hardat the rope that held it to the ground, for the air within it was hot, and thismade it so much lighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard torise into the sky.

“Come, Dorothy!” cried the Wizard. “Hurryup, or the balloon will fly away.”

“I can’t find Toto anywhere,” repliedDorothy, who did not wish to leave her little dog behind. Toto had run into thecrowd to bark at a kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up andran towards the balloon.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第6章

Then Oz painted it on the inside with acoat of thin glue, to make it airtight, after which he announced that the balloonwas ready.

“But we must have a basket to ride in,” hesaid. So he sent the soldier with the green whiskers for a big clothes basket,which he fastened with many ropes to the bottom of the balloon.

When it was all ready, Oz sent word to hispeople that he was going to make a visit to a great brother Wizard who lived inthe clouds. The news spread rapidly throughout the city and everyone came tosee the wonderful sight.

Oz ordered the balloon carried out in frontof the Palace, and the people gazed upon it with much curiosity. The TinWoodman had chopped a big pile of wood, and now he made a fire of it, and Ozheld the bottom of the balloon over the fire so that the hot air that arosefrom it would be caught in the silken bag. Gradually the balloon swelled outand rose into the air, until finally the basket just touched the ground.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第5章

“I shall be glad to have your company,”said Dorothy.

“Thank you,” he answered. “Now, if you willhelp me sew the silk together, we will begin to work on our balloon.”
So Dorothy took a needle and thread, and as fast as Oz cut the strips of silkinto proper shape the girl sewed them neatly together. First there was a stripof light green silk, then a strip of dark green and then a strip of emeraldgreen; for Oz had a fancy to make the balloon in different shades of the colorabout them. It took three days to sew all the strips together, but when it wasfinished they had a big bag of green silk more than twenty feet long.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第4章

“If it won’t float,” remarked Dorothy, “itwill be of no use to us.”

“True,” answered Oz. “But there is anotherway to make it float, which is to fill it with hot air. Hot air isn’t as goodas gas, for if the air should get cold the balloon would come down in thedesert, and we should be lost.”

“We!” exclaimed the girl. “Are you goingwith me?”

“Yes, of course,” replied Oz. “I am tiredof being such a humbug. If I should go out of this Palace my people would soondiscover I am not a Wizard, and then they would be vexed with me for havingdeceived them. So I have to stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome.I’d much rather go back to Kansas with you and be in a circus again.”

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第3章

“Well, I’ll tell you what I think,” saidthe little man. “You see, when I came to this country it was in a balloon. Youalso came through the air, being carried by a cyclone. So I believe the bestway to get across the desert will be through the air. Now, it is quite beyondmy powers to make a cyclone; but I’ve been thinking the matter over, and Ibelieve I can make a balloon.”

“How?” asked Dorothy.

“A balloon,” said Oz, “is made of silk,which is coated with glue to keep the gas in it. I have plenty of silk in thePalace, so it will be no trouble to make the balloon. But in all this countrythere is no gas to fill the balloon with, to make it float.”

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第2章

On the fourth day, to her great joy, Ozsent for her, and when she entered the Throne Room he greeted her pleasantly:

“Sit down, my dear; I think I have foundthe way to get you out of this country.”

“And back to Kansas?” she asked eagerly.

“Well, I’m not sure about Kansas,” said Oz,“for I haven’t the faintest notion which way it lies. But the first thing to dois to cross the desert, and then it should be easy to find your way home.”

“How can I cross the desert?” she inquired.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第17卷 第1章

For three days Dorothy heard nothing fromOz. These were sad days for the little girl, although her friends were allquite happy and contented. The Scarecrow told them there were wonderfulthoughts in his head; but he would not say what they were because he knew noone could understand them but himself. When the Tin Woodman walked about hefelt his heart rattling around in his breast; and he told Dorothy he haddiscovered it to be a kinder and more tender heart than the one he had ownedwhen he was made of flesh. The Lion declared he was afraid of nothing on earth,and would gladly face an army or a dozen of the fierce Kalidahs.

Thus each of the little party was satisfiedexcept Dorothy, who longed more than ever to get back to Kansas.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第16卷 第7章

The Lion hesitated no longer, but dranktill the dish was empty.

“How do you feel now?” asked Oz.

“Full of courage,” replied the Lion, whowent joyfully back to his friends to tell them of his good fortune.

Oz, left to himself, smiled to think of hissuccess in giving the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion exactly whatthey thought they wanted. “How can I help being a humbug,” he said, “when allthese people make me do things that everybody knows can’t be done? It was easyto make the Scarecrow and the Lion and the Woodman happy, because they imaginedI could do anything. But it will take more than imagination to carry Dorothyback to Kansas, and I’m sure I don’t know how it can be done.”