queen might be, but I am sure that it iss delissious."

"We do not have time for this," hooted Lisa. "We are on an important
mission to save the Lunechien Forest of Oz from a gigantic Forest
Monster, and you had better not hold us back! The Forest Monster is
already bigger than the lot of you, and he will come for you sooner or
later if you don't let us stop him!"

"Vorest Monzter?" echoed the great shark.

"That's what I said," replied Lisa angrily.

"Chust vat iss ze Vorest Monzter made uff?" asked the shark.

"Er, I don't know. Whatever monsters are usually made of," answered the
female owl. "Flesh and blood, I guess."

"Und he iss ass big ass chew zay he iss?" asked the shark.

"Probably bigger by now," put in Tweaty, realizing what was happening.

"Zen ve shall eat ziss Vorest Monzter!" said the shark. "Ve shall eat
him 'til he iss only bones!"

Lisa was not entirely sure the Forest Monster had any bones, as she
suspected that spiders had exoskeletons instead, but she saw no reason
to bring this up at the moment. "Then you really don't need us. It is
against the laws of the jungle to kill more than you can eat, and the
Forest Monster will easily tide you over for a good long time."

Ozma was not quite happy with the way things were turning out. She was
not an advocate of killing at all. The thought of her willingly placing
one of her subjects--even one so wicked as the Forest Monster--in mortal
danger was a hard pill for her to swallow. Still, this development had
apparently removed the threat to her own hide. "Then we shall be on our
way," she said. "I will wish you a good night."

The shark thanked her and, having no one left that he had to guard,
settled down to sleep among his fellows.

"This is odd," said Ozma as the group continued on its way. "We set out
to rid ourselves of the Forest Monster, and now I feel inclined to find
him so that we can warn him of his pending danger."

"You are kidding, aren't you?" asked Watts.

Ozma only looked solemnly at the ground and kept walking.

CHAPTER 12

THE LION KING

Now, when the Cowardly Lion of Oz had first tangled with and beheaded
the Forest Monster, the other animals of the area had named him their
king. They had since come to recognize Ozma as the overall ruler of Oz,
but they joyfully accepted their tawny savior as their local leader.

The Cowardly Lion had taken to the job as well as any coward could be
expected to do. He knew that,