," said Margolotte.

The head of the Patchwork Girl was the most curious part of her. While
she waited for her husband to finish making his Powder of Life the
woman had found ample time to complete the head as her fancy dictated,
and she realized that a good servant's head must be properly
constructed. The hair was of brown yarn and hung down on her neck in
several neat braids. Her eyes were two silver suspender-buttons cut
from a pair of the Magician's old trousers, and they were sewed on with
black threads, which formed the pupils of the eyes. Margolotte had
puzzled over the ears for some time, for these were important if the
servant was to hear distinctly, but finally she had made them out of
thin plates of gold and attached them in place by means of stitches
through tiny holes bored in the metal. Gold is the most common metal in
the Land of Oz and is used for many purposes because it is soft and
pliable.

The woman had cut a slit for the Patchwork Girl's mouth and sewn two
rows of white pearls in it for teeth, using a strip of scarlet plush
for a tongue. This mouth Ojo considered very artistic and lifelike, and
Margolotte was pleased when the boy praised it. There were almost too
many patches on the face of the girl for her to be considered strictly
beautiful, for one cheek was yellow and the other red, her chin blue,
her forehead purple and the center, where her nose had been formed and
padded, a bright yellow.

"You ought to have had her face all pink," suggested the boy.

"I suppose so; but I had no pink cloth," replied the woman. "Still, I
cannot see as it matters much, for I wish my Patchwork Girl to be
useful rather than ornamental. If I get tired looking at her patched
face I can whitewash it."

"Has she any brains?" asked Ojo.

"No; I forgot all about the brains!" exclaimed the woman. "I am glad
you reminded me of them, for it is not too late to supply them, by any
means. Until she is brought to life I can do anything I please with
this girl. But I must be careful not to give her too much brains, and
those she has must be such as are fitted to the station she is to
occupy in life. In other words, her brains mustn't be very good."

"Wrong," said Unc Nunkie.

"No; I am sure I am right about that," returned the woman.

"He means," explained Ojo, "that unless your servant has good brains
she won't know how to obey you properly, nor do the things you ask her
to do."

"Well, that may be true," agreed