And so it went throughout the Emerald City. The friendly Oz people were delighted that the lovely birds should approach so near that they might be treated to a closer view of their gorgeous plumage, which, it must be admitted, was exceedingly beautiful. Only the eyes of the birds betrayed their true natures. They flamed a fierce red. One or two of the Oz people, upon meeting the glare of those piercing eyes, were alarmed and would have turned and fled. But it was too late. In a few minutes, all the human inhabitants of the Emerald City were made captives.
However, the Mimics were able to steal the shapes only of human beings.
The Scarecrow, the Patchwork Girl, Tik-Tok, the Glass Cat, Billina the Yellow Hen, the Woozy, Toto, Hank the Mule, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger remained unchanged. Fearing the mule, the lion and the tiger might prove dangerous because of their size, Queen Ra quickly placed a magic spell on the three beasts that caused them to fall on the court-yard lawn in a deep sleep.
The Scarecrow, Scraps, Tik-Tok and the others who had escaped the magic of the Mimics were completely confused by these sudden and baffling events. The stuffed girl rubbed her suspender button eyes and gazed with disbelief at two Button Brights—which one was it she had been playing with only a few minutes before? And there were two Aunt Ems and two Jellia Jambs! Wondering if the world had somehow suddenly become double, the bewildered Patchwork Girl looked about for her own twin.
Of all the horde of beautiful birds that had settled on the Emerald City, only two remained in the Royal Gardens. These were King Umb and Queen Ra. At this point the Mimic King and Queen cast off their bird forms. A strange man and woman suddenly appeared in the midst of the Oz people and the Mimic-Oz-people. The woman was big, raw-boned and red-skinned. Her hair was twisted on her head in a hard black knot, on which was set a small golden crown. The Scarecrow started with surprise when he saw that the strange woman was wearing Dorothy's Magic Belt. (Until now the belt had been concealed by the plumage of Ra's bird form.) Queen Ra had brought the Magic Belt with her because of its wonderful powers which she had been studying and which she felt would be useful in carrying out the conquest of Oz. Beside the woman stood a giant man with a flowing black beard and tangled black hair. His eyes were fierce and hawklike.