t
her loving greetings to Ozma before she retired to the rooms prepared
for her. She had brought a birthday present wrapped in tissue paper and
tied with pink and blue ribbons, and one of the wooden soldiers placed
it on the table with the other gifts. But the Candy Man did not go to
his room, because he said he preferred to stay and talk with the
Scarecrow and Tik-tok and the Wizard and Tin Woodman, whom he declared
the queerest people he had ever met. Button-Bright was glad the Candy
Man stayed in the Throne-room, because the boy thought this guest
smelled deliciously of wintergreen and maple sugar.

The Braided Man now entered the room, having been fortunate enough to
receive an invitation to the Princess Ozma's party. He was from a cave
halfway between the Invisible Valley and the Country of the Gargoyles,
and his hair and whiskers were so long that he was obliged to plait them
into many braids that hung to his feet, and every braid was tied with a
bow of colored ribbon.

"I've brought Princess Ozma a box of flutters for her birthday," said
the Braided Man, earnestly; "and I hope she will like them, for they are
the finest quality I have ever made."

[Illustration]

"I'm sure she will be greatly pleased," said Dorothy, who remembered
the Braided Man well; and the Wizard introduced the guest to the rest of
the company and made him sit down in a chair and keep quiet, for, if
allowed, he would talk continually about his flutters.

The band then played a welcome to another set of guests, and into the
Throne-Room swept the handsome and stately Queen of Ev. Beside her was
young King Evardo, and following them came the entire royal family of
five Princesses and four Princes of Ev. The Kingdom of Ev lay just
across the Deadly Desert to the North of Oz, and once Ozma and her
people had rescued the Queen of Ev and her ten children from the Nome
King, who had enslaved them. Dorothy had been present on this adventure,
so she greeted the royal family cordially; and all the visitors were
delighted to meet the little Kansas girl again. They knew Tik-tok and
Billina, too, and the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, as well as the Lion and
Tiger; so there was a joyful reunion, as you may imagine, and it was
fully an hour before the Queen and her train retired to their rooms.
Perhaps they would not have gone then had not the band begun to play to
announce new arrivals; but before they left the great Throne-Room King
Evardo added to Ozma