"Oh," said the Shaggy Man, "is this the Valley of Romance?"
"It is, and since you are from the Land of Oz," said King Ticket, "you must surely have heard of the Valley of Romance."
The Shaggy Man reflected. It seemed he could recall Ozma mentioning something about some such valley, but he couldn't remember anything that she had said about it.
"How far are we from the Land of Oz?" asked Twiffle.
"Dear me!" exclaimed King Ticket staring at Twiffle. "For a moment I thought you were real!"
"I am real," stated Twiffle with dignity. "I just don't happen to be made of flesh and blood and bones, that's all."
"And as for the Land of Oz," remarked Queen Curtain meditatively, "it is indeed very far away—over the stream and over the hill—far, far away to the desert, and then over that, too. In fact, it isn't even in the Valley of Romance, so that means it must be quite some distance off. Too far even to think of," she added as though to say that closed the subject.