The Forest Monster of Oz - Bob Evans
"W-wouldn't it be rude to just b-barge in on him?" said the Lion, his
cowardly nature suddenly returning.
"I don't think so," replied Cubby. "I think we need to stop his wicked
deeds as soon as we possibly can. We can't let him get to Dorothy, you
know. Nor the Scarecrow or the Tin Woodman or the Woggle-Bug. No one is
safe as long as the Forest Monster is at large."
"You're right!" said the Cowardly Lion dutifully. "We are the only ones
who can stop him. Where is this overgrown daddy long legs?"
Cubby led the huge animal through the forest to the lair of the gigantic
spider. When they got there, they were met with a most unexpected sight.
There was a pack of Land Sharks. They looked frightful and hungry, and
they surrounded Ozma, Tweaty, Nibbles, Lisa, Hootsey and Elephant.
"Those are some of my friends who live in this forest," explained Cubby.
"Except for the little girl. I don't know who she is. Is that Dorothy?"
"No," said the Lion, his voice sounding hollow. "What is she doing here?
Why are your friends here? They should have followed your act and fled."
"It iss dinnah time!" shouted one of the Land Sharks. "I believe ve
shall bekin vith ze big gray helefantt!"
"No!" said Cubby. "Don't let them do it!"
The Cowardly Lion trembled with fear as he watched the huge Land Shark
turn to face the little monkey. When the Shark moved toward Cubby with
its jagged teeth exposed, he pounced on it.
"Get ziss kitty offa my back!" screamed the Land Shark. "It hass sharp
clawss, und zay are hurtin' me!"
The Lion jumped off, and the impact of his jump knocked the Land Shark
over. To tell the truth, the Land Shark's legs were rather thin, and his
balance was not very good to begin with. This displayed to the others
the Land Sharks' main weakness. Thinking quickly on his feet, Elephant
raced toward another of the Sharks and knocked it over on its face. The
Shark's front teeth were dislodged, and it ran behind its fellows.
Without its teeth, the Land Shark was much more vulnerable than it had
been previously. Seeing that the other Land Sharks were distracted by
the Lion and Elephant, the Forest Monster took its opportunity to
strike. Within moments, the Land Shark was no longer a threat to anyone,
having been drained of all of its life force. The added burst of energy
gave the Forest Monster more ability to take out more of the Land
Sharks. But he was so preoccupied that he failed to notice Watts and his
four companions surround him with their ferocious teeth bared. This
caused the Forest Monster to hesitate while he sized up the situation.
Here he was, the bad guy, trying to get bigger and stronger at the
expense of the Land Sharks, yet at the same time inadvertently saving
Ozma and her friends, and now Ozma's forces were bearing down on him
while his back was turned. "Hey! This is grossly unfair," he said,
almost crying. Just then, a group of Droffs, accompanied by several
Sniffers and Stinkfoots, arrived. The confusion allowed Ozma to use her
silver wand to cast a spell. Between the Forest Monster, Elephant, the
Stinkfoots, Sniffers and the Cowardly Lion, the Land Sharks were
disabled within a matter of forty-five minutes. Those who had not been
deenergized by the Forest Monster or otherwise rendered harmless by one
of the others had fallen to their spindly knees and were pleading for
mercy. One was staring directly into the foot of one of the newcomers
and crying hysterically. All the while, Ozma had been using her wand to
turn the Sharks into tiny snails, which Cubby picked up and put into a
nearby pond.
"It is finished," said the Cowardly Lion. He pushed his aching body to
the ground and licked one of his wounds. "The Land Sharks are subdued. I
don't think they will have the same cruel spirits now that they are
snails."
"Indeed not," said the Forest Monster. Turning to the Cowardly Lion, he
added, "You fought bravely. For one who is called Cowardly, you
certainly didn't show any signs of having earned that title in this
battle."
"But I felt them," sighed the Lion. "I was only acting brave because I
saw my friends in danger. To tell you the truth, I was scared out of my
wits the whole time."
"Your friends?" echoed the Forest Monster. "You call us your friends?
Even me? Do you not remember who I am, and what you once did to me while
I was sleeping?"
The Lion did a double take. "Oh, yeah! I was so caught up in the battle
with the Land Sharks that I forgot what I had come here for."
"I was, too!" agreed Cubby. "But the Cowardly Lion was coming here to
have a talk with you," he added, remembering the words that the Lion had
spoken to him earlier. "He said that he was ashamed of what he did to
you without giving you a sporting chance." These last words on Cubby's
part were intended only as an observation. He had no idea that they
would have any effect on the Forest Monster at all.
"Is that so?" wondered the huge spider. "You mean to say that you came
here to apologize to me? And you even counted me among your friends. How
wrong I have been in my assessment of your character. You are not so
cowardly after all. In fact, I feel proud to have fought alongside of
you. I would like to start over and get to know you for what you really
are."
The Lion was taken aback. "You would?" he said. He had no idea what else
to say. He had come to the Lunechien Forest thinking that he was to face
the greatest enemy he had ever known, and that enemy was speaking to him
as if they were old friends who had just met after a long period of
separation.
"Of course I would," said the spider. "I see now that I was wrong to
hate you so badly when I didn't even know what sort of fellow you really
were. And seeing how I felt when we were attacked by those Land Sharks
without having any way to fight them off showed me how grossly unfair I
was for having taken the energy from helpless insects and animals. I was
as bad as them, and I don't ever want to be like that again! It's much
too frightful. I'd rather have a solid group of friends than have all
the power in the world."
"I think I am guilty of the same thing," sighed the Lion, still a little
spooked by the abruptness of the Monster's turnabout in nature. "I
knocked your head off as you slept, but I didn't know what you were
like, either. All I knew was what I was told: that you were eating all
of the lions and the other animals, and that they wanted to make me
their king if I stopped you."
"So you are their king now," said the Forest Monster. "I do not begrudge
you the position any more. You are welcome to it. I suddenly feel like I
don't care for any position of power any more. When I was gaining the
power I now possess, I was allowing myself to be blind to anything but
my ever-growing hatred of you. Now that I see how unfounded that hatred
really was, I feel that it was I who was the true coward. I was sapping
the life energy from countless helpless creatures. I did not give them
any sporting chance, either. Nor did I have any excuse to justify what I
was doing except that I wanted revenge. It is I who should feel ashamed
of himself, not you. Now I have all of this power and strength that was
brought about by my hate, and it is no longer of any value to me. All it
has done was to make me all the more angry and heartless. If this is the
price of strength, I think I'd rather be weak. It is far better to be
small and have friends than to have all the strength in the universe but
be so full of anger and resentment that you can't even enjoy it."
"So now that you have become a mountain of power," replied the Lion,
"you no longer care to be powerful?"
"Exactly," sighed the Forest Monster. "If there were a way to reverse
time and put things back as they should be, before I ever hurt anyone, I
would do it. I wish I could apologize to all of the poor animals that I
sapped. If their spirits are still in the vicinity, I hope they see how
utterly foolish I feel for having taken such unfair advantage of them."
"It is very sad that so many of our friends and families had to be
destroyed in order for you to have learned this lesson," said Elephant,
thinking sadly of the loss to the forest and its denizens. "But I hope
that you will try to reverse your reputation now by putting your
strength to good use. It is hard to forget what you did, but I think
that, in time, we will all be able to accept you as a neighbor. At
least, if you act like one."
"Oh, that I will do," said the spider gratefully. "I will do all that I
can to make up for my past misbehaving."
"Then it seems we are no longer needed," said one of the Sniffers. "We
met the Droffs on our way here, and they have agreed to help us plow our
fields. If our job here is done, I think we should like to go home and
get started."
"Me wants to plow fields," said the Droff who stood beside him.
"Then something positive did come of all this tragedy," said Hootsey.
"Not only have the Sniffers and the Stinkfoots made friends with the
Droffs, but the Forest Monster has had a major-league change of heart.
But can we at least find the empty shells of our families and give them
a proper burial?"
"That would be right," agreed the Forest Monster.
"Wait a minute," said Ozma. "You mean to say that the bodies are still
around? You didn't devour them entirely?"
"No," explained the Monster. "I only drained them of their energy. I
never actually hurt their physical bodies. Only their internal energy."
"And their energies are still inside of you," observed Lisa, catching on
to what Ozma was getting at. "So you never actually _killed_ them! Their
bodies are still alive, but dormant because they have no life energy.
That means that, if we could reverse the process, we could put all of
their energy back into their bodies again!"
"It would," agreed Ozma, "if the Forest Monster would agree to do
this." She turned to the tremendous arachnid. "It will probably mean
that you will have to allow yourself to become small again. I don't mean
as small as you were when the Cowardly Lion first met you, either. I
mean that you will again be reduced to the size of a regular, normal
spider in order to restore all that you have wronged to their former
liveliness."
"Oh, yes!" said the Forest Monster. "This I will gladly do! I am happy
to go back to that small size. It allows me to maintain a lower profile,
and I would like the opportunity to practice spinning my webs in
private. I'll bet that, in time, I will be able to spin the most
gorgeous webs you can imagine! If that comes to pass, I would consider
it a great honor if one of my masterpieces could be coated in silver and
gold, I should like to give it to Your Majesty as a gift."
"I would be delighted to receive it, I'm sure," said Ozma kindly, though
she was not sure what she would actually do with such a treasure. "But I
think it is now time to restore the Lunechien beasts."
"I agree," said the Cowardly Lion. "And, as everything seems to have
come out well, I think it is time I head home to the Forest where I am
now king. I've already been away too long as it is."
"Of course," said Ozma, taking his paw in her hand. "Thank you for all
your help."
"Think nothing of it, my Queen," he said. Then he lumbered off toward
Lion Country.
"And now," continued Ozma, "back to the job at hand." She put her
fingertips to her temples and concentrated. The Forest Monster felt a
slight tingling sensation in his heart, but nothing else happened.
"Maybe you need to use your wand," suggested Lisa. "Or say an
incantation?"
"Or make some kind of magical motions?" put in Tweaty.
"No," sighed Ozma. "This operation is not as basic as all that. The
Forest Monster has grown so vast that my untrained abilities are not
going to work. It may be weeks before I will be up to this challenge.
I'm afraid I'm just not used to being a fairy yet. But I think I could
do it if I had an Anmars."
"A what?" asked Elephant. "I've never heard of an Anmars before."
"It's a standard magical tool that most wizards or witches would have.
But I don't think there are any more witches in the area. Allidap and
her evil sister were both destroyed by Dorothy, and the Witch of the
Deep South got rid of most of her old implements, saying that they
reminded her of a time she'd prefer to forget."
"How about Glinda?" suggested Tweaty, who was still in the form of a
small orange pachyderm. "She's a Good Witch, you know. Wouldn't she have
one of those Mars things?"
"An Anmars," corrected Ozma. "Yes, I'm sure she would. But the last I
heard from her, she was going to visit some place that was having a
drought and try to correct it. A place called Yoraitia. I do not know
where it is."
"Yoraitia?" echoed Tweaty. "I flew by there once! I know where it is,
and it isn't very far from here. But there was a dark and shadowy place
on the way. I didn't land there, as I thought it looked scary and
dangerous. But I can lead you there, if you want me to."
"Then we are saved!" said Elephant with a loud trumpet blast. "Even if
that shadowy dark place is dangerous, no one can stand up to our
formidable Forest Monster!"
"Er," pouted the Monster, "I'd rather not be thought of that way any
more. Like your Witch of the Deep South, there are things that remind me
of a past that I'd rather forget."
"Of course," said Lisa. "I'm sure Elephant didn't mean to imply that you
were mean any more."
"Certainly not," replied the pachyderm. "So can we be on our way? I so
want to be reunited with Tiger and Pinky and the others."
"Of course," replied the Forest Monster (and it is actually getting hard
to keep referring to him by that title in light of his abrupt change of
heart. I have to wonder, was he ever really all that monstrous?). "Why
don't you ride on my back. I have very long legs, and it will make the
going much faster."
They all agreed to this plan, and were off to find Yoraitia.
CHAPTER 14
ME AND MY SHADOW
It has been mentioned before that, although very comprehensive maps
exist of Oz, there are areas that are totally uncharted and about which
very little is known. One such area is the Land of Lost Shadows. In fact
this may be the very first time that this mysterious land has ever been
mentioned by any living human being. That is because no one has ever
known where a person's shadow goes when he dies. It has always been
assumed that when someone's physical form is no more, his shadow
automatically disappears along with it. That is quite true, of course.
But does anyone ever stop to think where it disappears _to_!
Now, it is very true that if you are separated from your shadow when you
are alive, it can be sewn back on again. Any child who has ever read the
story of Peter Pan knows that this is so. But when a person's body dies,
the shadow has no desire to be buried in the ground or to be burned up.
None of these things bother the body because it is not aware of
anything. But the shadow is totally aware and is anxious to remain
active and useful. Sometimes these shadows are helpful and good. Other
times, the opposite is true. Scholars of Oz are already well aware of
the time when the shadow of the Wicked Witch of the East made a ploy for
revenge against the magical country. But no shadow can continue to
remain alive outside of the enchanted lands. After all, it is but a
shadow of its former self (if you'll pardon the pun). So it just zips
off to Oz to reside in the Land of Lost Shadows. Now, the word 'lost' is
a misnomer here. The shadow itself is anything but lost. In fact it is
quite at home in its new abode. However, it is lost as far as the rest
of the world is concerned. Well, enough of these explanations. Let us
get back to our story. No created beings other than shadows had ever
crossed the borders of Shadowland (which is the name used by the
inhabitants). That is, no one had until Elephant, Ozma, Tweaty, Hootsey,
Lisa, Nibbles and the Forest Monster happened to stumble on it by
accident. And the way that happened was as follows: Each member of the
little band was so preoccupied with his own thoughts--especially
Elephant. He was still thinking how close he had come to being eaten by
the Land Sharks and the miraculous change of heart on the part of the
Forest Monster. As for the Monster himself, he was feeling bad about all
the evil things he had done, and was contemplating what he would say in
apology to all of the animals he had wronged. Since it was getting dark
by this time, he failed to notice the thick, dark area looming up in
front of him, when CRASH! He went straight into it. And since it was
really dark now, the shadowy occupants were quite invisible. Hootsey
suggested that there was no point in stumbling around in the dark, and
that the best thing to do would be for everyone to lie down and go to
sleep.
This seemed like a fine idea to Elephant, who promptly flopped down on
the grass--almost squashing Nibbles, who was already snoozing under him.
The Forest Monster also took a position of repose, but far enough away
from his smaller charges that he knew he would not roll over and squish
any of them. In the twinkling of an eye, he was fast asleep. But it was
hardly a restful sleep that he experienced. It was a deeply troubled
sleep. In his dreams, he saw the tortured faces of the many that he had
mistreated in his angry power play. The wispy night visions experienced
by his companions were hardly any more enjoyable, except those of
Princess Ozma, who rated enough respect from the Sleep Fays that they
would not allow any negative influences to disturb her sleep. Instead,
she saw visions of the beautiful Love Fairy, and the lilting,
music-like laughter of the Laughing Fay. These served to make her smile
inwardly as she slept.
Ozma was the first to awaken. She felt refreshed and envigorated. The
sound of birds chirping and the warm sun on her face brought her out of
her deep restful slumber.
The first thing that her eyes focused upon was a two-dimensional shadowy
shape moving toward her along the ground in much the same manner as the
shadow of an airplane would. She instinctively looked up at the sky to
see what flying object might be casting its shadow on the ground. But
there was nothing to account for it. Then she became apprehensive, for
it occurred to her that perhaps one of the land sharks had escaped her
snailifying spell and followed them and that was what she was seeing.
But no; it was definitely just a shadow, for it had stopped right in
front of her. Then the shadow stood up as it became a three-dimensional
human being.
"Good morning," said the shadow, who had now taken the form of a very
ordinary man. This awoke the others, who were surprised to see a man in
a baseball uniform.
"Forgive me for startling you all," said the man. "But you see, when the
sun comes up high enough in the sky, we shadows resume the forms of our
previous selves. In fact, we are identical to our previous selves except
that our bodies are composed of high-frequency molecules as opposed to
the low frequency molecules of our earthly bodies." Seeing the quizzical
look on everyone's face, he quickly continued: "It's quite simple,
really. We are composed of the same material you are. After all, none of
us could reside in Oz if we weren't."
"It makes sense, when you think about it," said Ozma. "But I am very
curious as to why you are wearing baseball clothes. Have you just come
from a game?"
"Yes, I have," answered the man. "Baseball is pretty big in Shadowland.
You see, we have a large population here of old baseball players and
baseball fans. It's the biggest thing we all have in common, so we tend
to congregate together. As a matter of fact, we not only have games
between ourselves, but we invite teams in the United States to visit
when the players are in restitude. We have a wonderful time together. Of
course, the visiting players don't usually bring back the memory of the
games when they awaken in the morning--Well, maybe some fragmented
dreams--but that doesn't detract from the game or the great fun we have.
Those young whippersnappers think they'll show us old timers a thing or
two, but boy, do they get a run for their money!"
"Might I inquire as to your name?" questioned Tweaty, rather timidly.
"Why yes," came the simple reply. "My name is Richard Marquard. Please,
just call me _Rube_."
"Sounds like a backwoodsy hillbilly name to me," said Elephant,
intending his words to sound like friendly teasing.
"Ha ha!" laughed Rube, equally friendly. "My nickname being what it is,
you probably automatically assume that I must have been a country boy.
That's what most people figure. But it's not so. Fact is, my father was
the Chief Engineer of the City of Cleveland, and that is where I was
born and reared."
"Okay," said Elephant. "So then, why is it that you are called _Rube_?"
"Well, it's a long story," answered the ball player's shadow.
"Then we had better not take the time to hear it all now," said Hootsey.
"We have a very important mission to fulfill."
"Yes," agreed Lisa. "But perhaps Mr. Rube could help us. I think we
should bring him along."
"A grand idea!" exclaimed Ozma. "Mr. Marquard, would you be so kind as
to join us on our mission? I would like to hear your story, and then
will be happy to tell you ours."
[Illustration: "_My name is Richard Marquard. Please just call me
Rube."_]
"If I had been asked to join an undefined questing party by any other
than the Queen of all Oz, I might have hesitated," came the reply. "But
as it is from you, I will come along."
"Splendid!" said Elephant. "Then let us be off!"
Rube was lifted atop the Forest Monster, as were Elephant and the
others, and from this high podium Rube began his unique tale. "It all
started with my father," he explained. "Like I say, he was the Chief
Engineer of the city of Cleveland. As far as he was concerned, the only
important thing was for me to get a good education. But as far back as I
can remember, all I could think of, morning, noon and night, was
baseball.
"'Now listen,' Dad would say. 'I want you to cut this out and pay
attention to your studies. I want you to go to college when you're
through high school, and I don't want any foolishness about it. Without
an education, you won't be able to get a good job, and then you'll
_never_ amount to anything.'
"'I already have a job,' I'd say.
"'You've got a job? What are you talking about?'
"I'm going to be a ballplayer,' I'd explain. But Dad was not very
receptive.
"'A ballplayer?' he'd say, throwing his hands up in the air. 'What do
you mean? How can you make a living as a ballplayer? I don't understand
why a grown man would wear those funny-looking suits in the first
place.'
"'Well,' I'd answer. 'You see policemen with uniforms on, and other
people like that. They change after they're through working. It's the
same way with ballplayers.'"
"That sounds reasonable to me," said Tweaty.
"Me, too," said Queen Ozma. "I certainly don't wear the same clothes to
a meeting with a foreign dignitary as I would wear while playing marbles
with Jellia Jamb."
"Certainly not!" agreed Nibbles.
"If only my father had thought that way," sighed Rube's shadow. "But he
just scoffed. 'Do ballplayers get paid?' he'd ask.
"'Yes,' I told him. 'They get paid.'
"'I don't believe it!' he would rant.
"And 'round and 'round we would go. We'd actually have that same
argument, almost always word-for-word, at least once a week. Twice a
week in the summer. Sometimes my grandfather--my father's father--would
get involved in it. My grandfather was a nice man who liked baseball,
and he would usually take my side.
"'Listen,' he'd say to my father, 'when you were a youngster, I wanted
you to be something, too. I wanted you to be a stonecutter, same as I
was when I came over from the old country.' Oh, did I mention before
that my grandfather was a stonecutter?"
"No," replied Elephant. "You just said that he was a nice man who liked
baseball."
"Okay," said Rube's shadow. "Well, my grandfather had been a
stonecutter, and had tried to persuade Dad to become one, too. 'But no!'
he would say loudly into my father's ear, 'You wouldn't listen. You
wanted to be an engineer. So you _became_ an engineer. And a darned good
one, too. Had I forced you into masonry, you would never have excelled
in the craft for which you had no love. And you would have been very
unhappy. Now Richard wants to be a baseball player. He's so determined
that nothing is going to stop him. Let's give him a chance and see what
he can do. Don't force the boy to give up on his dreams.'"
"Your grandfather sounds like a wise man to me," said Ozma.
"He was," said the shadow. "But Dad would never listen. 'Ballplayers are
no good,' he'd insist. 'Ballplayers are no good, and they never will be
any good.' It was very frustrating. He would usually end the argument by
slamming the door and going outside to sit on the porch. And he would
stop speaking to my grandfather or me for hours at a time."
"That's too bad," said Tweaty. "If you were good at baseball, you should
have stuck with it."