The Cowardly Lion overcame his fear and ignored the trepidation within his heart. He came upon the Forest Monster shortly thereafter. Even though it was sound asleep, it was the most ghastly sight that the Cowardly Lion had ever laid eyes on. It was huge, black and furry. It was filthy, too. Its putrid smell had the Lion reeling in spite of himself. But he pressed onward. The snores of the ugly Monster revealed its razor-sharp fangs which measured in at at least a foot long. Its powerful legs were as muscular as those of a Hercules and were as big around as a house and as long as the trunk of a tree. The claws on the end of its eight enormous legs were curved and as sharp as scimitars. It was quite the sort of thing that nightmares are made of.
But the Cowardly Lion noticed that the Forest Monster had one weakness. He was observant enough to notice that, though the spider was so much larger than any other spider he had ever seen, its neck was as slender as a wasp's waist. Given this obvious oversight on the part of the Wicked Witches who had designed him, the Forest Monster suddenly seemed less Monstrous to the Cowardly Lion. With a leap and a single blow of his mighty paw, he knocked the Forest Monster's head clean off! He then watched the writhing body until its legs stopped wiggling and he knew that it was quite dead.
[Illustration: "With a leap and a single blow of his mighty paw, he knocked the Forest Monster's head clean off!"]
CHAPTER 2
ELEPHANT'S DAY
"Elephant?" asked Tweaty, a yellow canary who was looking up at the large gray beast.
"Yes?" asked the elephant, who was drinking a tall glass of chocolate milk with his trunk.
"I was just thinking about the new Queen of Oz," said the bird solemnly. "Do you think she'll last? I mean, I really thought that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz himself would rule over the Land forever. Then I placed my confidence in His Majesty the Scarecrow. Now, out of the blue, we've got this little girl who is probably younger than most eggs, and we are supposed to give her our neverending support?"
"Why in the world not?" the pachyderm drawled as he indolently stretched
himself. "Nibbles and I agree that, though she is very young, Princess
Ozma shows a lot of promise as Oz's new leader. Give the child a chance.
She's only been a Queen for a week or so!"
"Absolutely, Tweaty!" Nibbles agreed. "And so many rulers have been youthful. Remember the old story about King Tut? He was just a little boy."