hard to manage because they are so tremendously strong."

"They don't look very strong," said Dorothy. "It seems as if a good
wind would blow 'em way out of the city if it wasn't for the wall."

"Just so, just so," admitted the Czarover. "They really look that way,
don't they? But you must never trust to appearances, which have a way
of fooling one. Perhaps you noticed that I prevented you from meeting
any of my people. I protected you with my giants while you were on the
way from the gates to my palace so that not a Herku got near you."

"Are your people so dangerous, then?" asked the Wizard.

"To strangers, yes. But only because they are so friendly. For if
they shake hands with you, they are likely to break your arms or crush
your fingers to a jelly."

"Why?" asked Button-Bright.

"Because we are the strongest people in all the world."

"Pshaw!" exclaimed the boy. "That's bragging. You prob'ly don't know
how strong other people are. Why, once I knew a man in Philadelphi'
who could bend iron bars with just his hands!"

"But mercy me, it's no trick to bend iron bars," said His Majesty.
"Tell me, could this man crush a block of stone with his bare hands?"

"No one could do that," declared the boy.

"If I had a block of stone, I'd show you," said the Czarover, looking
around the room. "Ah, here is my throne. The back is too high,
anyhow, so I'll just break off a piece of that." He rose to his feet
and tottered in an uncertain way around the throne. Then he took hold
of the back and broke off a piece of marble over a foot thick. "This,"
said he, coming back to his seat, "is very solid marble and much harder
than ordinary stone. Yet I can crumble it easily with my fingers, a
proof that I am very strong."

Even as he spoke, he began breaking off chunks of marble and crumbling
them as one would a bit of earth. The Wizard was so astonished that he
took a piece in his own hands and tested it, finding it very hard
indeed.

Just then one of the giant servants entered and exclaimed, "Oh, Your
Majesty, the cook has burned the soup! What shall we do?"

"How dare you interrupt me?" asked the Czarover, and grasping the
immense giant by one of his legs, he raised him in the air and threw
him headfirst out of an open window. "Now, tell me," he said, turning
to Button-Bright, "could your man in Philadelphia crumble marble in his
fingers?"

"I guess not," said Button-Bright, much impressed by the skinny