Under the Influence: The Lost Princess of Oz

 

Eleventh in the series, The Lost Princess of Oz follows up on Rinkitink in Oz with another excellent tale, one of the best in the canon, and one of those most deeply influential in my writing of Polychrome.

Dorothy Gale, going to Ozma's rooms to ask if she and her friends Betsy and Trot could take the Saw-Horse and royal carriage to visit the Munchkin country, discovers that Ozma has disappeared; even more disturbing, her Magic Picture is gone, so they cannot use it to discover where Ozma is. Shortly, they learn that Glinda's entire arsenal of magical materials, including the Great Book of Records, has also vanished, as have all of the Wizard of Oz' magical tools and implements. Some agency has, in the space of a few hours of a single night, removed all of the magical possessions and records of the three most powerful people in all Oz – and kidnapped one of them, Ozma herself, in the bargain!

At the same time, a seemingly less important, but no less perplexing, theft has occurred in the Munchkin country, in the country of the Yips atop Mount Munch: Cayke the Cookie-Cook's diamond-studded gold dishpan has vanished. Not only is this event shocking in and of itself – no theft has ever been recorded in the history of the Yips – but also the thief appears to have been someone not native to the country at all.

Desperate to recover her heirloom, Cayke appeals to the being known as the Frogman, a huge, dandified frog who is considered the most intelligent and capable being in that country, to assist her. After a short time, the Frogman agrees and the two set out.

Once away from the other Yips, Cayke admits that she has more than sentimental reasons for retrieving her dishpan; apparently the pan is magical, and is responsible for her being able to make perfect cookies over and over, without fail, as well as be a generally good cook for anything else as well. Her very first failure to cook anything happened the morning the dishpan disappeared.

The Frogman, for his part, is something of a humbug; while he is quite intelligent and thoughtful, he has spent years pretending to be smarter and wiser than he actually is, and to some extent has come to believe his own publicity. Nonetheless, despite his pomposity and, at first, self-aggrandizing behavior, the Frogman is a good sort, and really does feel badly for Cayke.

Unfortunately for the Frogman – or perhaps very fortunately – after a day or two of travel, he comes across the Truth Pond (which we may recall from The Road to Oz) and bathes in it, unaware of its nature until afterwards. This forces him to be completely truthful with himself and others. While this turns out to be a bit of a shock to Cayke, who has to accept that her companion is far less capable than she thought, it has a very salutary effect on the Frogman himself; such self-awareness and honesty swiftly eliminates his false pride and allows him to address later problems directly and honestly.

Dorothy and the others quickly organize search parties to look for Ozma; Dorothy's includes many of our favorite characters including Dorothy, the Wizard, Button-Bright, the Woozy, the Patchwork Girl, and the Cowardly Lion, among others. On their journey, they encounter several obstacles and interesting people, including the Merry-Go-Round Mountains – large hills which spin at high speed and can only be crossed by a risky and clever method devised by the Patchwork Girl; the thistle-eating people called the Thists; and the fragile-looking yet incredibly strong Herkus.

In the city of the Herkus, they finally discover a lead – the existence of a former Herkus named Ugu the Shoemaker, who became a powerful wizard recently and withdrew to an indestructible wicker castle which he constructed in a single day.

Cayke and the Frogman also discover Ugu's involvement with the help of the Lavender Bear, King of Bear Center – a small civilization of stuffed bears – and his most precious possession (or possibly subject), the Pink Bear, who is a powerful clairvoyant able to speak of what he sees in any location howsoever distant, as long as the crank in his side is turned.

The two parties encounter each other, and join forces to confront the mysterious sorcerer Ugu, who has captured all the known magic of Oz…

Unlike some of the earlier books, this is not a travelogue, but an adventure with a clear beginning and goal, far more powerful and coordinated than many other books. Baum also maintains the mood of the adventure, not disrupting it with unneeded comedy, and presents us with various clues and secondary mysteries which the reader could solve, if they were clever enough, before they are revealed.

Allowing for the target audience, Ugu is one of the most formidable adversaries ever seen in the Oz novels. Unlike the petulant Ruggedo, he is a man of action, one quite willing and able to directly address whatever impediments may lie between him and his goals – and in addition to his powerful magical talents, he has vast physical strength as do all of the Herkus. As the descendant of the most powerful magician ever to live (stated in the book), he can master any form of magic swiftly and surely, and thus not only has deprived his enemies of their powers through his thefts, but has significantly augmented his own.

His defeat comes not from any true error on his part – other than arrogance – but through, as Burt Gummer of Tremors might say, being "denied critical, need-to-know information!". Specifically, his information sources did not include knowledge of the Nome King's Magic Belt being captured in the relatively recent past by Dorothy, and thus even Dorothy's minimal control over the Belt's vast powers are sufficient to turn the tables. (Baum skips over the fact that with Glinda's Book of Records he could have easily discovered this, but I don't mind; as I mentioned before in my discussion of the Book, the amazing thing is that ANYONE ever finds anything useful in it)

This is one of the most important Oz books for the purposes of Polychrome. One of two major adversaries, Ugu, comes from this book, and many other elements of this novel contributed to the design and plot of my own – not the least being the decision to not have Ugu do one of the classic blunders of many villains.

Said blunder, of course, being to have carried off an extremely well-thought out plan which is disrupted by unforeseen circumstances, and then, given another chance, ignoring the fact that they HAVE a well-thought-out plan that DID succeed and could be PERMANENTLY successful if they just make a few changes. Ugu, in Polychrome, re-enacts his prior plan, but this time with additional measures to make sure no one has the chance to undo what he has done.

I recommend The Lost Princess of Oz as highly as I did Rinkitink in Oz and The Scarecrow of Oz, and they make a fine triplet to read together!