! Ha!" he said dryly. "I'm dying of laughter,
Ho! Ho! Ho!" After he finished glaring at Lisa, he continued ... "So,
anyway, as I was saying," again glaring at Lisa, "_before I was so
rudely interrupted!_ There is great diversity in Oz. I mean, there are
so many different kinds of people, yet for the most part we all get
along fairly well. Oh, we have our differences of opinion. No question
about it. But we seem to resolve them without too much upheaval. Well,
most of the time. Anyway, the point is--"

At that, Tweaty interrupted. "I can see immediately that you have never
been to Chilepepperland."

"And where, pray tell, is Chilepepperland?" enquired Hootsey with a hint
of cynicism. "And why have I never heard of it?"

"Perhaps you've never heard of it because you're too busy trying to
think of wise things to say," interrupted Nibbles. "After all, you have
a reputation to uphold."

Hootsey could not be sure if Nibbles was being a "smart alec" or was
just paying him a complement.

"Chilepepperland is beyond the great desert," answered Tweaty, "in a
very remote region which is surrounded by impenetrable terrain composed
of jagged rocks. There is only one narrow passageway which twists and
turns every which way through the rocks. The sides of the passageway are
quite sheer. If you were looking down from above, it would just seem
like a chasm because you cannot see the path at the bottom. Besides, the
road disappears in places where it goes under the rocks. The entrance is
completely hidden by prickly pear bushes which are plentiful in the
region. That is why no one has ever heard of Chilepepperland. Because it
is basically cut off from civilization."

"How did you discover it?" Elephant asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well," continued Tweaty, "I happened to be flying over the area one day
and spotted a group of green chilepeppers having a picnic. They invited
me to lunch and told me all about their turbulent history. It seems that
Chilepepperland was first occupied by several tribes of red chilepeppers
who were, for the most part, peace-loving. Oh, they had occasional small
skirmishes among themselves. But they lived in relative harmony for many
many years; living off the land which they treated with great reverence
because it provided all their food. They also had great respect for the
animal kingdom. They were never wasteful; giving constant thanks to the
great spirit who, they believed, watched over them and prov