said the little girl. "They're
cold and flabby, like cabbages, in spite of their prettiness."

"I agree with you. It is because there is no warm blood in them,"
remarked the Wizard.

"And they have no hearts; so they can't love anyone--not even
themselves," declared the boy.

"The Princess is lovely to look at," continued Dorothy, thoughtfully;
"but I don't care much for her, after all. If there was any other place
to go, I'd like to go there."

"But _is_ there any other place?" asked the Wizard.

"I don't know," she answered.

Just then they heard the big voice of Jim the cab-horse calling to them,
and going to the doorway leading to the dome they found the Princess and
a throng of her people had entered the House of the Sorcerer.

So they went down to greet the beautiful vegetable lady, who said to
them:

"I have been talking with my advisors about you meat people, and we have
decided that you do not belong in the Land of the Mangaboos and must not
remain here."

"How can we go away?" asked Dorothy.

"Oh, you cannot go away, of course; so you must be destroyed," was the
answer.

"In what way?" enquired the Wizard.

"We shall throw you three people into the Garden of the Twining Vines,"
said the Princess, "and they will soon crush you and devour your bodies
to make themselves grow bigger. The animals you have with you we will
drive to the mountains and put into the Black Pit. Then our country will
be rid of all its unwelcome visitors."

"But you are in need of a Sorcerer," said the Wizard, "and not one of
those growing is yet ripe enough to pick. I am greater than any
thorn-covered sorcerer that ever grew in your garden. Why destroy me?"

"It is true we need a Sorcerer," acknowledged the Princess, "but I am
informed that one of our own will be ready to pick in a few days, to
take the place of Gwig, whom you cut in two before it was time for him
to be planted. Let us see your arts, and the sorceries you are able to
perform. Then I will decide whether to destroy you with the others or
not."

At this the Wizard made a bow to the people and repeated his trick of
producing the nine tiny piglets and making them disappear again. He did
it very cleverly, indeed, and the Princess looked at the strange
piglets as if she were as truly astonished as any vegetable person could
be. But afterward she said:

"I have heard of this wonderful magic. But it accomplishes nothing of
value. What else can you do?"

The