The Lost King of Oz

by Ruth Plumly Thompson

The tailor pushed his specs up on his forehead. "Seems as if I'd always been here," he mourned dolefully, "stitching, stitching, stitching and never getting done. If I try to pass through that gate," he pointed through the window into a small yard, "if I try to pass through that gate some invisible force holds me back. So what can I do? But I have my ears," he continued more cheerfully. "They can go off wherever they please and they tell me what's going on and keep me pretty happy."

"Well, I wouldn't stand it," exclaimed Snip, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets and staring down sympathetically at the old man. In spite of his strange ears, there was something so gentle and lovable about the old tailor that Snip could not bear to have him unhappy. "I'd get away somehow," declared the little boy earnestly.

Tora shook his head hopelessly. "The thing to do, is to get you away before they come back," he sighed, taking an old silver watch from his vest pocket. "The Blanks are great eaters and wouldn't miss their breakfasts for a fortune. So now's the best time for you to go. Come on, I'll show you the way to the Fare-well. You can see it from the gate."

"Is that the only way out?" groaned Snip. He felt that one experience with a well would be quite enough for him.

"Only way I know," answered Tora, taking down his coat from a peg. "You reach Blankenburg by the Well-come and leave by the Fare-well."

Sticking his needle in his lapel, he started rapidly for the door and, feeling very mixed up indeed, Snip hurried after him. There was not a Blank in sight as they stepped into Tora's yard and Snip, looking at the handsome dwellings on both sides of the street, thought he would like to see more of this strange city. A bright pink blanket flew from a castle which stood at the end of the square and Tora explained that this was the national emblem of the Blanks.

There were a hundred questions on the tip of Snip's tongue. For instance, he wanted to know how the Blanks had come to be invisible and how Tora himself had come to have such wonderful ears, but the old gentleman was so anxious for him to get safely off that he had not time for a single question.

"If they capture you before you reach the well, be sure not to let them wash your face," warned Tora earnestly, "for if they wash your face, it will disappear. Remember don't wash your face, whatever happens."

This was an easy promise for a little boy to make and, following the direction of Tora's long finger, Snip saw a stone well in the small park at the corner of the street.

"Good-bye!" sighed the old man, giving him a wistful pat on the shoulder. "If you ever find this King or reach the Emerald City, tell someone about old Tora, will you?"