On My Shelves: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

By this point in the series, the Oz books had developed into the Harry Potter of their day. Writing an Oz novel was an assured way to mint money for L. Frank Baum, and for many years he availed himself of that mint whenever he found himself short of funds, as he invariably did since he was a terrible businessman with a fondness for putting on expensive theatrical productions.

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz is the fourth entry in the series, and the title alone shows how Baum was making sure to pay attention to his fans. Dorothy was popular, but only slightly less popular was the clever old man called the Wizard of Oz. "Bring back the Wizard!" was a common refrain, and Baum obliged.

Of course, to do that required some new means to get Dorothy (and the Wizard) back to Fairyland. One thing you have to give Baum: he didn't like to repeat himself obviously. So this time, drawing no doubt on recent events in San Francisco, the culprit is an earthquake of epic scale, ripping the earth asunder in a crack wide enough to swallow a horse-and-buggy carrying Dorothy, her cousin Zeb, and her cat Eureka; the unfortunate horse is named Jim.

The group plummet deep into the earth, falling for what seems many hours; during this time, a stone striking Jim causes him to exclaim, showing that he can speak, and telling Dorothy that she's once more on one of her mystical adventures. Finally, their descent begins to slow, and a strange light from a set of cold, multicolored "suns" illuminates a beautiful city, seeming to be of crystal or glass, and lush gardens below. Their descent slows even more, and they discover that their fall can be guided (and eventually learn that the air can be walked upon, with care).

Unfortunately, the inhabitants – called the Mangaboos – are cold, mostly unfeeling creatures who though appearing human are in fact nothing of the sort. They do not believe in a world above their own, and so blame these creatures for the "Rain of Stones" which fell upon them and shattered some of their houses. Fortunately, another strange sight in the air prevents their execution; as it approaches, Dorothy can see that it is a hot-air balloon, though one losing its air rather swiftly, and from the balloon steps a familiar figure: Oz, the Great and Terrible, the humbug Wizard of Oz.

The Mangaboos are as innocent of sleight-of-hand as they are of the world above, fortunately, and when challenged to a duel of magic by their Sorcerer, Gwig, the Wizard uses showmanship, clever improvisation, and – in the end – a far stronger sword-arm than one might have expected to defeat Gwig. This makes him temporarily the appointed Wizard of the land, and also reveals that the Mangaboos are, in fact, vegetable creatures. They look human, but are in fact as solid in body as turnips or potatoes.

The Prince of the Mangaboos still feels that all of these intruders but the Wizard should be destroyed or cast out, but on a short tour of the gardens in which the Mangaboos grow, Dorothy and the Wizard find the Princess who should be replacing the Prince (and who was avoiding having the Princess picked) and release her from her vine; she instantly assumes command and the Prince is removed from power, presumably to be "planted".

This causes the Princess to spare the humans, but the nonhuman animals are a source of revulsion for the Mangaboos, who have never seen any living thing not of a humanoid form, and so the Mangaboos attempt to drive them out; when the humans follow and try to stop it, all of them are driven out and walled into a glass cave. Fortunately, there is an outlet…

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, like Ozma of Oz, takes place mostly outside of Oz, and is an even more harrowing sequence of adventures than the prior one. The Mangaboos' intentions are clearly lethal, and the Wizard actually kills his opponent, the Sorcerer Gwig, with his sword. Subsequent adventures take them through the beautiful but perilous Valley of Voe, home to enormous but invisible bears which hunt and kill any straying far from the inhabited areas; the high and dangerous Pyramid Mountain, with the hostile and deadly silent Gargoyles at the top; and the amusing yet fearsome Dragonets – baby dragons nonetheless vastly more powerful and dangerous than any man.

This marks a significant shift in the tone of the Oz books. While some of them will be lighter in parts, the fairylands outside of Oz are shown to be places of great danger, where a newcomer can be in peril from the moment they set foot on the land. The dangers are diverse, sometimes subtle and sometimes terrifyingly obvious, and require both strength and wits to overcome. Baum does not coddle his readers, that's for sure.

By modern standards, of course, the adventures are a bit too easily resolved – but this is, again, a children's book, not one for adults. Towards the end of the book, the band of adventurers find themselves trapped, and Dorothy suddenly remembers her agreement with Ozma; sure enough, when she makes the signal at the appointed time, she disappears… and a few moments later, her friends are also whisked away from the gloomy cave to the Fairyland of Oz.

They are welcomed, but even their time in Oz is not entirely without drama; a race between the Saw-Horse and Jim, the first Real Horse seen in Oz, ends with the Saw-Horse's victory and Jim, unfortunately, being a very poor sport and having to be reproved. Eureka the Kitten gets in worse trouble, apparently having eaten a pet piglet of Ozma's (given her by the Wizard), is put on trial for murder; she refuses to testify and is nearly convicted because of this before the truth is discovered.

One of the most frustrating non-events is the confrontation of the Wizard by Ozma; as one will recall from The Marvelous Land of Oz, the Wizard had given the baby Ozma to the witch Mombi as a child to enforce the legitimacy of his own rule, and Baum – trying to return the Wizard to his position in Oz – tapdances around this issue, essentially ignoring the entire sequence of events and acting as though the Wizard never knew any of these things. In a sense this is more consistent with the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but of course is terribly inconsistent with the entirety of The Marvelous Land of Oz.

For my own Polychrome, I had to resolve this contradiction. Rather than throwing out The Marvelous Land of Oz, I accepted that sequence as being true. Thus, in my version of Oz, I envision that confrontation between Ozma – once the boy Tip – and the Wizard who was responsible for her/him being sold into effective slavery as being rather more serious, and the Wizard having to go through considerably more to establish himself as truly reformed and trustworthy.

Ozma is, after all, a very kind and generous ruler, but she's no idiot, and this is a man who, as far as she knows, deposed (possibly killed?) the prior ruler Pastoria and sent her off to be raised as a boy by a witch no better than the Wicked Witches that Dorothy destroyed in the first book. She may be willing to believe that even the worst men can be redeemed, but she wouldn't believe it at the drop of a hat – or forgive it so swiftly, without making sure the man in question had fully faced and accepted the import and villainy of his prior deeds.

This is certainly one of the most exciting of the Oz books, even if it is rather thin on plot – basically "oops, I'm not at home, let's survive until we get to Oz and can get Wished back where we belong". Not as strong a book as Ozma of Oz, still Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz is a very worthy entry in the mythology of Oz, and does return to prominence the Wizard, who is one of the most interesting and important characters of the series.