by L. Frank Baum
   "Royal Historian of Oz"

   To My Readers

    Curiously enough,
           in the events
              which have taken
                   place in the last
                       few years in our
         "great outside world,"
            we may
              find incidents so marvelous
                   and inspiring
             that I
                cannot hope
                      to equal them
                           with stories
                               of The Land of Oz.

    However,
         "The Magic of Oz"
            is really more strange
               and unusual
             than anything
             I have read or
                  heard about
                       on our side
                           of The Great Sandy Desert
                  which shuts us
                       off from The Land
                           of Oz,
           even during the
               past exciting years,
         so I hope
             it will appeal
                 to your love of novelty.

    A long and confining illness
        has prevented my answering
               all the good letters
             sent me
         --unless stamps were enclosed--
           but from now on
             I hope
                  to be able to give
                     prompt attention
                           to each and every letter
             with which
                   my readers favor me.

    Assuring you
         that my love for you
            has never
                faltered and hoping
                       the Oz Books
            will continue
                  to give you pleasure
                       as long as
         I am able
              to write them,
           I am

    Yours affectionately,
           L. FRANK BAUM,
         "Royal Historian of Oz."

    "OZCOT"
        at HOLLYWOOD in CALIFORNIA 1919

 
  1. Mount Munch

    On the east edge
           of the Land of Oz,
         in the Munchkin Country,
         is a big,
           tall hill called Mount Munch.

    One one side,
           the bottom
               of this hill just
              touches the Deadly Sandy Desert
             that separates the Fairyland
                   of Oz
                 from all the rest
                       of the world,
         but on the other side,
           the hill touches the beautiful,
         fertile Country of the Munchkins.

    The Munchkin folks,
           however,
         merely stand off
              and look at Mount Munch
                  and know very little
                       about it;
        for,
           about a third
               of the way up,
         its sides
              become too steep to climb,
           and if any people
               live upon the top of
             that great towering peak
               that seems
                  to reach nearly
                       to the skies,
         the Munchkins
            are not aware
                   of the fact.

    But people DO live there,
           just the same.

    The top of Mount Munch
        is shaped
         like a saucer,
           broad and deep,
         and in the saucer
            are fields
             where grains and vegetables grow,
           and flocks are fed,
         and brooks
              flow and trees
                  bear all sorts of things.

    There are houses
           scattered here and there,
         each having its family
               of Hyups,
         as the people call themselves.

    The Hyups
          seldom go down the mountain,
           for the same reason
             that the Munchkins
                  never climb up:
        the sides are too steep.

    In one of the houses
           lived a wise old Hyup
              named Bini Aru,
           who used
              to be a clever Sorcerer.

    But Ozma of Oz,
           who rules everyone
               in the Land of Oz,
         had made a decree
             that no one
                should practice magic
                       in her dominions
             except Glinda the Good
                   and the Wizard of Oz,
           and when Glinda
              sent this royal command
                   to the Hyups
                 by means
                       of a strong-winged Eagle,
         old Bini Aru
               at once stopped
             performing magical arts.

    He destroyed
           many of his magic powders
         and tools of magic,
           and afterward honestly
              obeyed the law.

    He had never seen Ozma,
           but he knew
             she was his Ruler
                and must be obeyed.

    There was only one thing
         that grieved him.

    He had
          discovered a new
               and secret method of transformations
         that was unknown
               to any other Sorcerer.

    Glinda the Good
        did not know it,
           nor did the little Wizard