rot Griffiths, Betsy Bobbin, and several others have also agreed to
live the rest of their days in Oz rather than returning home to the
mortal lands, where illness and death and aging are common.

Because Oz citizens only age when they wish to do so, on one's birthday
all one is required to do is to wish to stay the same age for another
year, and it will be so. This would certainly please most of the people
in our mortal lands, but it would hardly be practical here due to the
ever-increasing overpopulation problem.

[Illustration]

The Land of Oz is divided into five sections. To the North is the
Gillikin territory. The Gillikins favor the color purple above all
others and are known to paint their homes, barns, and silos in this
color. To the South lies the land of the Quadlings. Here, the revered
color is red. The area is governed by a powerful but Good Witch named
Glinda, and Glinda is considered an enemy to all of the evil Witches.
The very center is the Emerald City. It has been called the most
glorious place on the face of the earth (or even the moon or Mars), and
rightly so. It is so lovely, in fact, that it defies description. And it
is from here that the overall ruler is able to reign above all five
regions.

In the West can be found the yellow Winkie Country. The Emperor of this
region is none other than Nick Chopper, the tin man who had befriended
Dorothy on her first visit to Oz. To the East is the blue Munchkin
Country. Here, all of the things that the Gillikins paint purple are
painted blue. This is the region where little Dorothy's house had fallen
down atop the Wicked Witch of the East. And it was this incident that
had caused the Wicked Witch of the West to take notice of the little
girl. So wicked was this Witch, in fact, that she sent a host of plagues
in the hope that they would destroy poor Dorothy and her companions. She
lashed out with her flesh-eating gray wolves, her sinister crows, and
her horrific stinging bees. But it was not until she called upon her
Marvelous Flying Monkeys that she was able to succeed in her goal. The
monkeys, enslaved by the powers of a magical hat, destroyed the
Scarecrow and tin man and enslaved Dorothy and the Lion.

Oz history would have been dismal, indeed, had Dorothy not splashed a
bucket of water over the Wicked Witch, wetting her from head to foot. As
Witches and water do not mix very well, the evil woman was reduced to
nothing more than a puddle of ugly liqu