Удивительный волшебник из Страны Оз / The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The next morning she told the Munchkins good-bye, and again started along the road of yellow brick. When she had gone several miles she decided to rest. There was a great cornfield nearby, and not far away she saw a Scarecrow, placed high on a pole to keep the birds from the ripe corn.

Dorothy looked at the Scarecrow. Its head was a small sack stuffed with straw, with eyes, nose, and mouth painted on it to represent a face. Ih has an old, pointed blue hat and a blue suit of clothes, worn and faded, which had also been stuffed with straw. On its feet were some old boots with blue tops.

While Dorothy was looking at the Scarecrow, she was surprised to see one of the eyes slowly wink at her. She thought she must have been mistaken at first, but then the figure nodded its head to her in a friendly way. Dorothy walked up to it, while Toto ran around the pole and barked.

“Good day,” said the Scarecrow.

“Did you speak?” asked the girl, in wonder.

“Certainly,” answered the Scarecrow. “How do you do?”

“I’m pretty well, thank you,” replied Dorothy politely. “How do you do?”

“I’m not feeling well,” said the Scarecrow, with a smile, “for it is very tedious being perched up here night and day to scare away crows.”

“Can’t you get down?” asked Dorothy.

“No, for this pole is stuck up my back. If you will please take away the pole I shall be thankful.”

Dorothy reached up both arms and lifted the figure off the pole. He was stuffed with straw and was quite light.

“Thank you very much,” said the Scarecrow. “I feel like a new man. Who are you? And where are you going?”

“My name is Dorothy,” said the girl, “and I am going to the Emerald City, to ask the Great Oz to send me back to Kansas.”

“Where is the Emerald City?” he inquired. “And who is Oz?”

“Why, don’t you know?” she returned, in surprise.

“No, indeed. I don’t know anything. You see, I am stuffed, so I have no brains at all,” he answered sadly.

“Oh,” said Dorothy, “I’m awfully sorry for you.”

“Do you think,” he asked, “if I go to the Emerald City with you, that Oz would give me some brains? You see, I don’t mind my legs and arms and body being stuffed, because I cannot get hurt. But I do not want people to call me a fool, and if my head stays stuffed with straw instead of with brains, as yours is, how am I ever to know anything?”

“I understand,” said the little girl, who was truly sorry for him. “If you will come with me I’ll ask Oz to do all he can for you.”

“Thank you,” he answered gratefully.

They walked back to the road and started along the path of yellow brick for the Emerald City.

Toto did not like this addition to the party at first. He smelled around the stuffed man and often growled in an unfriendly way at the Scarecrow.

“Don’t mind Toto,” said Dorothy to her new friend. “He never bites.”

“Oh, I’m not afraid,” replied the Scarecrow. “He can’t hurt the straw. Do let me carry that basket for you. I shall not mind it, for I can’t get tired. I’ll tell you a secret,” he continued, as he walked along. “There is only one thing in the world I am afraid of.”

“What is that?” asked Dorothy.

“A lighted match,” answered the Scarecrow.

Chapter 4

The Road Through the Forest

After a few hours the road began to be rough, and it was difficult to walk. Some bricks were broken or missing altogether. Toto was jumping across the holes in the road and Dorothy walked around. As for the Scarecrow, having no brains, he walked straight ahead, and so stepped into the holes and fell at full length on the hard bricks. It didn’t hurt him, however, and Dorothy would pick him up and set him upon his feet again.

The farms here were not nearly as well cared as before. There were fewer houses and fewer fruit trees.

At noon they sat down by the roadside, near a little brook, and Dorothy opened her basket and got out some bread. She offered a piece to the Scarecrow, but he refused.

“I am never hungry,” he said.

Dorothy nodded and went on eating her bread.

“Tell me something about yourself and the country you came from,” said the Scarecrow, when she had finished her dinner. So she told him all about Kansas, and how gray everything was there, and how the cyclone had carried her to the Land of Oz.

The Scarecrow listened carefully, and said, “I cannot understand why you want to leave this beautiful country and go back to Kansas.”

“No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, there is no place like home.”

The Scarecrow sighed.

“I cannot understand it,” he said.

They went on. There were no fences at all by the roadside now, and the land was rough. Toward evening they came to a great forest, where the trees grew big and close together. It was almost dark under the trees, for the branches shut out the daylight; but the travelers did not stop, and went on into the forest.

“If this road goes in, it must come out,” said the Scarecrow, “and as the Emerald City is at the other end of the road. We must go wherever it leads us.”

“Anyone would know that,” said Dorothy.

“Certainly; that is why I know it,” returned the Scarecrow. “If it required brains to figure it out, I never should have said it.”

After an hour or so all the light faded away, and they found themselves in the darkness. Dorothy could not see at all, but Toto could, for some dogs see very well in the dark. The Scarecrow declared he could see as well as by day. So she took his arm and managed to get along fairly well.

“If you see any house, or any place where we can pass the night,” she said, “you must tell me.”

Soon after the Scarecrow stopped.

“I see a little cottage at the right of us,” he said, “built of logs and branches. Shall we go there?”

“Yes, indeed,” answered the child. “I am tired.”

The Scarecrow led her through the trees to the cottage. Inside, Dorothy found a bed of dried leaves in one corner. She lay down at once, and Toto lied down beside her. The Scarecrow, who was never tired, stood up in another corner and waited patiently until morning came.

Chapter 5

The Rescue of the Tin Woodman