ce he lay down and
fell fast asleep.

Dorothy came close to the buttons and whispered: "Would you really warn
Crinklink if I tried to escape?"

"You can't escape," growled the bear. "Crinklink would become a giant,
and soon overtake you."

"But you might kill him while he sleeps," suggested the cat, in a soft
voice.

"Oh!" cried Dorothy, drawing back; "I couldn't poss'bly _kill_
anything--even to save my life."

But Toto had heard this conversation and was not so particular about
killing monsters. Also the little dog knew he must try to save his
mistress. In an instant he sprang upon the wee bed and was about to
seize the sleeping Crinklink in his jaws when Dorothy heard a loud crash
and a heap of dishes fell from the table to the floor. Then the girl saw
Toto and the little man rolling on the floor together, like a fuzzy
ball, and when the ball stopped rolling, behold! there was Toto wagging
his tail joyfully and there sat the little Wizard of Oz, laughing
merrily at the expression of surprise on Dorothy's face.

"Yes, my dear, it's me," said he, "and I've been playing tricks on
you--for your own good. I wanted to prove to you that it is really
dangerous for a little girl to wander alone in a fairy country; so I
took the form of Crinklink to teach you a lesson. There isn't any
Crinklink, to be sure; but if there had been you'd be severely whipped
for breaking all those dishes."

[Illustration]

The Wizard now rose, took off the coat with the button heads, and spread
it on the floor, wrong side up. At once there crept from beneath it a
bear, a wolf, a cat, a weasel, and a field-mouse, who all rushed from
the room and escaped into the mountains.

"Come on, Toto," said Dorothy; "let's go back to the Emerald City.
You've given me a good scare, Wizard," she added, with dignity, "and
p'raps I'll forgive you, by'n'by; but just now I'm mad to think how
easily you fooled me."

[Illustration]

TIKTOK AND THE NOME KING

The Nome King was unpleasantly angry. He had carelessly bitten his
tongue at breakfast and it still hurt; so he roared and raved and
stamped around in his underground palace in a way that rendered him very
disagreeable.

It so happened that on this unfortunate day Tiktok, the Clockwork Man,
visited the Nome King to ask a favor. Tiktok lived in the Land of Oz,
and although he was an active and important person, he was made entirely
of metal. Machinery within him, something like the works