ntil nine tiny piglets were running about at
his feet, all squealing and grunting in a very comical way.

"Now," said the Wizard of Oz, "having created something from nothing, I
will make something nothing again."

With this he caught up two of the piglets and pushed them together, so
that the two were one. Then he caught up another piglet and pushed it
into the first, where it disappeared. And so, one by one, the nine
tiny piglets were pushed together until but a single one of the
creatures remained. This the Wizard placed underneath his hat and made
a mystic sign above it. When he removed his hat the last piglet had
disappeared entirely.

The little man gave a bow to the silent throng that had watched him,
and then the Prince said, in his cold, calm voice:

"You are indeed a wonderful Wizard, and your powers are greater than
those of my Sorcerer."

"He will not be a wonderful Wizard long," remarked Gwig.

"Why not?" enquired the Wizard.

"Because I am going to stop your breath," was the reply. "I perceive
that you are curiously constructed, and that if you cannot breathe you
cannot keep alive."

The little man looked troubled.

"How long will it take you to stop my breath?" he asked.

"About five minutes. I'm going to begin now. Watch me carefully."

He began making queer signs and passes toward the Wizard; but the
little man did not watch him long. Instead, he drew a leathern case
from his pocket and took from it several sharp knives, which he joined
together, one after another, until they made a long sword. By the time
he had attached a handle to this sword he was having much trouble to
breathe, as the charm of the Sorcerer was beginning to take effect.

So the Wizard lost no more time, but leaping forward he raised the
sharp sword, whirled it once or twice around his head, and then gave a
mighty stroke that cut the body of the Sorcerer exactly in two.

Dorothy screamed and expected to see a terrible sight; but as the two
halves of the Sorcerer fell apart on the floor she saw that he had no
bones or blood inside of him at all, and that the place where he was
cut looked much like a sliced turnip or potato.

"Why, he's vegetable!" cried the Wizard, astonished.

"Of course," said the Prince. "We are all vegetable, in this country.
Are you not vegetable, also?"

"No," answered the Wizard. "People on top of the earth are all meat.
Will your Sorcerer die?"

"Certainly, sir. He is really de