"Yes, we'd love to," replied Dorothy.
"All right," said the Elf. "But no talking to anyone until his work is done."
"When will that be?" inquired Dorothy.
"Well ... actually ... never, but they'll be having a little break soon," replied the Elf, with a grin. "As you can see, we work very hard here."
"Everyone seems so happy as they work," said Dorothy.
"It wasn't always this way," replied the Elf. "We used to be ruled by a wicked king who used us as slave labor, but we broke away from that wicked king and came here and started a new land. Now that we are free to live as we wish, we pool our labor for the benefit of all."
"Are you the leader?" asked Dorothy.
"We don't have one," answered the Elf. "We do not allow any person or any group of people absolute power over the rest of us."
"How are things decided, then?" asked the Tin Woodman, who had been listening very intently.
"Well, we are not a big country," replied the Elf, "so we don't need a full-time government."