re golden yellow and
filled with a sweet, creamy substance, and ate until his hunger was
satisfied. Then he entered the house with his friends and sat in a
rocking-chair--just as he was accustomed to do when a boy. The Canary
perched herself upon the mantel and daintily plumed her feathers; the
Tin Owl sat on the back of another chair; the Scarecrow squatted on his
hairy haunches in the middle of the room.

"I believe I remember the girl Jinjur," remarked the Canary, in her
sweet voice. "She cannot help us very much, except to direct us on our
way to Glinda's castle, for she does not understand magic. But she's a
good girl, honest and sensible, and I'll be glad to see her."

[Illustration]

"All our troubles," said the Owl with a deep sigh, "arose from my
foolish resolve to seek Nimmie Amee and make her Empress of the Winkies,
and while I wish to reproach no one, I must say that it was Woot the
Wanderer who put the notion into my head."

"Well, for my part, I am glad he did," responded the Canary. "Your
journey resulted in saving me from the Giantess, and had you not
traveled to the Yoop Valley, I would still be Mrs. Yoop's prisoner. It
is much nicer to be free, even though I still bear the enchanted form of
a Canary-Bird."

"Do you think we shall ever be able to get our proper forms back again?"
asked the Green Monkey earnestly.

Polychrome did not make reply at once to this important question, but
after a period of thoughtfulness she said:

"I have been taught to believe that there is an antidote for every
magic charm, yet Mrs. Yoop insists that no power can alter her
transformations. I realize that my own fairy magic cannot do it,
although I have thought that we Sky Fairies have more power than is
accorded to Earth Fairies. The yookoohoo magic is admitted to be very
strange in its workings and different from the magic usually practiced,
but perhaps Glinda or Ozma may understand it better than I. In them lies
our only hope. Unless they can help us, we must remain forever as we
are."

"A Canary-Bird on a Rainbow wouldn't be so bad," asserted the Tin Owl,
winking and blinking with his round tin eyes, "so if you can manage to
find your Rainbow again you need have little to worry about."

"That's nonsense, Friend Chopper," exclaimed Woot. "I know just how
Polychrome feels. A beautiful girl is much superior to a little yellow
bird, and a boy--such as I was--far better than a Green Monkey. Neither
of us can be h