e Margolotte. One year you
told me about them; I think it took you a whole year, Unc, to say as
much as I've just said about the Crooked Magician and his wife. They
live high up on the mountain, and the good Munchkin Country, where the
fruits and flowers grow, is just the other side. It's funny you and I
should live here all alone, in the middle of the forest, isn't it?"

"Yes," said Unc.

"Then let's go away and visit the Munchkin Country and its jolly,
good-natured people. I'd love to get a sight of something besides
woods, Unc Nunkie."

"Too little," said Unc.

"Why, I'm not so little as I used to be," answered the boy earnestly.
"I think I can walk as far and as fast through the woods as you can,
Unc. And now that nothing grows in our back yard that is good to eat,
we must go where there is food."

Unc Nunkie made no reply for a time. Then he shut down the window and
turned his chair to face the room, for the sun was sinking behind the
tree-tops and it was growing cool.

By and by Ojo lighted the fire and the logs blazed freely in the broad
fireplace. The two sat in the firelight a long time--the old,
white-bearded Munchkin and the little boy. Both were thinking. When it
grew quite dark outside, Ojo said:

"Eat your bread, Unc, and then we will go to bed."

But Unc Nunkie did not eat the bread; neither did he go directly to
bed. Long after his little nephew was sound asleep in the corner of the
room the old man sat by the fire, thinking.

Chapter Two

The Crooked Magician

Just at dawn next morning Unc Nunkie laid his hand tenderly on Ojo's
head and awakened him.

"Come," he said.

Ojo dressed. He wore blue silk stockings, blue knee pants with gold
buckles, a blue ruffled waist and a jacket of bright blue braided with
gold. His shoes were of blue leather and turned up at the toes, which
were pointed. His hat had a peaked crown and a flat brim, and around
the brim was a row of tiny golden bells that tinkled when he moved.
This was the native costume of those who inhabited the Munchkin Country
of the Land of Oz, so Unc Nunkie's dress was much like that of his
nephew. Instead of shoes, the old man wore boots with turnover tops and
his blue coat had wide cuffs of gold braid.

The boy noticed that his uncle had not eaten the bread, and supposed
the old man had not been hungry. Ojo was hungry, though; so he divided
the piece of bread upon the table and ate his half for breakfast,
washing it dow