The Marvelous Land of Oz, Chapters Seven to Nine

In which our old friend His Majesty the Scarecrow meets Jack Pumpkinhead and they enact a proto-Abbott-and-Costello routine, whilst Tip encounters a revolting army setting out for conquest, and a daring escape is made; and in which our narrator assures you ahead of time that the required "revolting" joke is made, though not by him.



Oh, General Jinjur, how I love you. Perhaps not very surprisingly, she has become somewhat of a fan favorite among lovers of the Oz books, and often use her in a somewhat more positive, less satirical light than Baum does. I actually have rather a lot to say about the General's straw feminism (which, yes, we will be seeing more of), but it will have to wait so as not to spoil the ending (of this 110-year-old book). Politics aside for the moment, she's still a badass who stone-cold conquers the city while barely breaking a sweat.

Before we get to the illustrations, the only real note I have is at 10:05, when the Scarecrow and Jack Pumpkinhead go to play a game of quoits, which is essentially the game of horseshoes but with a full ring instead of, well, horseshoes. In reality, the game of horseshoes most likely evolved as a cheap alternative to quoits in the first place, but I would most definitely say that horseshoes is now by far more well-known, at least in American culture.

All righty, illustrations!

More after the jump!

 Right, didn't I warn you that there was perhaps an increase in schtick in this book? This here scene is Exhibit A. And yes, the maid's name is Jellia Jamb.

Wait, who's that dog? Why isn't the dog mentioned in the text? Also, what is that Tip is carrying? Is it a cane? A riding crop? Where did that come from? Was this something mentioned in the text that I'm forgetting? Also also, since it's a little hard to notice at this resolution, that's a sad cow poking its head out through the broken part of the fence.

Another mysterious dog! Does it belong to the Soldier here? Does it know that its master is making a fool of himself and will get himself killed, or at least harshly poked with knitting needles? Also, note that not only is the gun not loaded, but it actually has a cork in it. So... it's a pop gun? But that means that it IS loaded. Though, if it doesn't have any powder, as he mentions.... Am I over-thinking this? I'm over-thinking this.

I see that everyone took their green spectacles off at some point during the wild ride.

If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg with no pictures, and a fully illustrated facsimile of the first edition can be found at Open Library. No reading ahead, though!