e advantage of me," replied the Head. "I never saw you
before in my life."

"Still, your face is very familiar," persisted the Tin Woodman. "Pardon
me, but may I ask if you--eh--eh--if you ever had a Body?"

"Yes, at one time," answered the Head, "but that is so long ago I can't
remember it. Did you think," with a pleasant smile, "that I was born
just as I am? That a Head would be created without a Body?"

"No, of course not," said the other. "But how came you to lose your
body?"

"Well, I can't recollect the details; you'll have to ask Ku-Klip about
it," returned the Head. "For, curious as it may seem to you, my memory
is not good since my separation from the rest of me. I still possess my
brains and my intellect is as good as ever, but my memory of some of the
events I formerly experienced is quite hazy."

[Illustration]

"How long have you been in this cupboard?" asked the Emperor.

"I don't know."

"Haven't you a name?"

"Oh, yes," said the Head; "I used to be called Nick Chopper, when I was
a woodman and cut down trees for a living."

"Good gracious!" cried the Tin Woodman in astonishment. "If you are Nick
Chopper's Head, then you are _Me_--or I'm _You_--or--or-- What relation
_are_ we, anyhow?"

"Don't ask me," replied the Head. "For my part, I'm not anxious to claim
relationship with any common, manufactured article, like you. You may be
all right in your class, but your class isn't my class. You're tin."

The poor Emperor felt so bewildered that for a time he could only stare
at his old Head in silence. Then he said:

"I must admit that I wasn't at all bad looking before I became tin.
You're almost handsome--for meat. If your hair was combed, you'd be
quite attractive."

"How do you expect me to comb my hair without help?" demanded the Head,
indignantly. "I used to keep it smooth and neat, when I had arms, but
after I was removed from the rest of me, my hair got mussed, and old
Ku-Klip never has combed it for me."

"I'll speak to him about it," said the Tin Woodman. "Do you remember
loving a pretty Munchkin girl named Nimmie Amee?"

"No," answered the Head. "That is a foolish question. The heart in my
body--when I had a body--might have loved someone, for all I know, but a
head isn't made to love; it's made to think."

"Oh; do you think, then?"

"I used to think."

"You must have been shut up in this cupboard for years and years. What
have you thought about, in all that time?"

"Nothin