nswered the hen, who was now perched
upon the back of a chair; "although Dorothy has put scollops on it and
made it Billina. But the name doesn't matter. I've saved you from the
Nome King, and you are a slave no longer."

"Then I thank you for the gracious favor," said the Queen, with a
graceful courtesy. "But, my children--tell me, I beg of you--where are
my children?" and she clasped her hands in anxious entreaty.

"Don't worry," advised Billina, pecking at a tiny bug that was crawling
over the chair back. "Just at present they are out of mischief and
perfectly safe, for they can't even wiggle."

"What mean you, O kindly stranger?" asked the Queen, striving to
repress her anxiety.

"They're enchanted," said Billina, "just as you have been--all, that
is, except the little fellow Dorothy picked out. And the chances are
that they have been good boys and girls for some time, because they
couldn't help it."

"Oh, my poor darlings!" cried the Queen, with a sob of anguish.

"Not at all," returned the hen. "Don't let their condition make you
unhappy, ma'am, because I'll soon have them crowding 'round to bother
and worry you as naturally as ever. Come with me, if you please, and
I'll show you how pretty they look."

She flew down from her perch and walked into the next room, the Queen
following. As she passed a low table a small green grasshopper caught
her eye, and instantly Billina pounced upon it and snapped it up in her
sharp bill. For grasshoppers are a favorite food with hens, and they
usually must be caught quickly, before they can hop away. It might
easily have been the end of Ozma of Oz, had she been a real grasshopper
instead of an emerald one. But Billina found the grasshopper hard and
lifeless, and suspecting it was not good to eat she quickly dropped it
instead of letting it slide down her throat.

"I might have known better," she muttered to herself, "for where there
is no grass there can be no live grasshoppers. This is probably one of
the King's transformations."

A moment later she approached one of the purple ornaments, and while
the Queen watched her curiously the hen broke the Nome King's
enchantment and a sweet-faced girl, whose golden hair fell in a cloud
over her shoulders, stood beside them.

"Evanna!" cried the Queen, "my own Evanna!" and she clasped the girl to
her bosom and covered her face with kisses.

"That's all right," said Billina, contentedly. "Am I a good guesser,
M