The Marvelous Land of Oz, Chapters Twenty-Two to Twenty-Four

In which Mombi is discovered and there is an exciting chase, after which Mombi reveals the secret of Princess Ozma's disappearance, and all is brought to a happy ending; and in which our narrator expostulates at length about the feminist implications and interpretations of the book.



Last installment, and boy have we got some surprises in store for you! Well, one surprise. Maybe.

More after the jump!

The Marvelous Land of Oz, Chapters Nineteen to Twenty-One

In which our heroes manage to escape the jackdaws, restore their ride through mathematical trickery, beg help of Glinda the Good, and begin an attempt to find the rightful ruler of Oz.


All right folks, we've got only one more installment after this one, so we're circling in to the finale!

So jackdaws, mentioned in the last installment but more fully experienced here, are small members of the crow family that generally have black feathers over most of their bodies, with gray on the back of their necks, and light gray eyes (with some differences among the four known subspecies.) They're known for being very vocal -- they can even learn to speak a few words -- and are (as shown in these chapters) known to collect and hoard small items, like their relative the magpie. They mate monogamously and for life, but do live in hierarchical social groups that have been known to make large nesting platforms, as seen here. Of course, real jackdaws probably wouldn't be able to steal things like handsaws and bicycle pumps, as pictured in one of the last chapter's illustrations, but these birds have at least some resemblance to their real-world counterparts.

Oh, and a group of jackdaws is called "a clattering," or sometimes "a train."

One does wonder why the (brief) long faces over the fate of the Scarecrow. I mean, he's been unstuffed a whole bunch of times! I even had to create the "troubling existential questions" tag for him! Even if they didn't have the convenient pile of money to stuff him with, surely they could have just bundled up his clothes and head and stuffed him when they got back to Oz, right?

Okay, so we get back to Oz here. Now, let's get geographically nerdy! It's assumed that when they overshot the Oz border they ended up in Dorothy's "outside world" -- i.e., our world. We meet a clattering of jackdaws, which live throughout Europe and western Asia, and a couple of spots in northern Africa. Now, to get back to Oz from there, they cross over the great sandy desert that separates Oz from the rest of the world, without crossing over any water or anything. So, we're talking about Oz existing within some sandy desert in Europe or western Asia. It would probably be easiest to say that it's in the Gobi Desert because of its size (magic, of course, protects Oz from the extreme temperature variation of the region.) However, the jackdaws have stashed away a whole bunch of money clearly identified as "dollars" -- though how an Oz-born kid knows what a "dollar" is is another matter -- which of course implies we're somewhere in the US, nowhere near where any jackdaws live. And of course, a tornado and a balloon would have a heck of a way to go to bring people form the American Midwest to central Asia like that. So where were they, really? THIS MAKES NO SENSE, BAUM.

(Though of course, it's probable that they were just mistaken about being in the outside world, and were simply in another part of Nonestica.)

Both General Jinjur's Army of Revolt and Glinda's all-girl army are a little more evidence of Baum writing this book for the stage, as even book reviews of the time noted that they were clearly intended to showcase large groups of chorus girls. Whatever, they're still badass.

Though... this here would be Glinda's officer in charge of fudge? Is that right? I mean, I know you want an army to be well-supplied, and I personally would want fudge before going into battle, but... what?

Okay, Jack, you're... you're being rather terrifying here. Please get out of Jellia's personal space.

Okay, only one more installment to go! Will they find out what happened to the Princess Ozma? Will Jinjur be deposed? Will Jack's head spoil? Find out next time!


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!

The Marvelous Land of Oz, Chapters Sixteen to Eighteen

In which our heroes gather up a bunch of junk to build a Thing with which they escape the palace, only to get lost in a strange country during the night and crash into a large nest; and in which the narrator begins to lose his patience with Jack Pumpkinhead.



Just a quick note on the Latin phrase used by the Woggle-Bug at 19:30: semper idem, as can be inferred from the context, means "always the same." Idem is the root of the English word "identical," while semper might be familiar as part of the US Marine Corps motto, semper fidelis ("always faithful.") Or, for those of a whimsical bent, the phrase semper ubi sub ubi, which literally translates to "always where under where." Get it? Yeah, I'm sorry. Anyway, semper idem was used as a motto by 17th-century Puritans to describe the unchanging mercy of Christ, and the feminine form, semper eadem, was a motto used by Anne Boleyn, her daughter Queen Elizabeth I, and eventually by Queen Anne. Interesting bit of vaguely related trivia: Anne Boleyn at one point used another (hilarious) motto that she had embroidered on her livery: Ainsi sera, groigne qui groigne, generally translated as "Grumble all you want, this is how it's going to be."

Where was I? Illustrations!

This illustration really seems like it would fit better towards the beginning of the previous channel, but it was put as the prechapter illustration for this one, so there you go.

Not... entirely sure why this chapter gets an image of the Woggle-Bug strutting around as its chapter heading, but there you go again.

More after the jump!

The Marvelous Land of Oz, Chapters Thirteen to Fifteen

In which we learn the backstory of our loquacious insectile friend, who turns out to be fond of the most terrible puns which even the other characters refuse to tolerate; our heroes are led through more of Mombi's enchantments by an old friend, arrive at the Emerald City and make use of outdated gender stereotypes to drive off the invaders, only to become trapped in the palace.



Not much to add this time around, so right onto the illustrations!

More after the jump!

The Marvelous Land of Oz, Chapters Ten to Twelve

In which everyone is reassembled and our heroes make their way to the Tin Woodman's palace, a happy reunion takes place, they set out again and are confounded by magic, and encounter a most interesting insect; and in which our narrator proves to not, in fact, be dead.



Oh, hey! Look, that's right, I've got a podcast thing! I apologize about may absence since... god, August. Anyway, I'm back now, and we're gonna continue right along! We meet up with our old friend the Tin Woodman (covered, at 12:25, by putz pomade), who marvels at the variety of things-that-shouldn't-be-alive-but-are, which of course includes himself. We also, in these pages, meet (sigh) the Woggle-Bug.

So, you of course remember how I said that Baum wrote this book with an eye towards the stage, after the success of the musical adaptation of Wonderful Wizard, yes? And how a lot of the success was due to the actors playing the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, Fred A. Stone and David C. Montgomery? Well, when Baum adapted this book for the stage, the original musical was still running, and Stone and Montgomery didn't want to leave its sure success for an untested sequel. Rather than recast the part for some reason, Baum cut the characters from the story, and promoted the Woggle-Bug to being essentially the main character, even titling the play The Woggle-Bug. There was also a new subplot in which the Woggle-Bug fell in love with a checked dress, and thus anyone wearing it. So... yeah. It closed in less than a month.

Anyway, get ready for some truly terrible jokes.

Illustrations!

More after the jump!