Page:The Royal Book of Oz.djvu/152

 "Never!" shouted the Scarecrow so loudly that all the Courtiers looked up in surprise. "How dare you eat innocent cats?" Indignantly he thought of Dorothy's pet kitten, back in Oz. Oz—why had he ever left that wonderful country?"

"Your Highness has eaten hundreds," announced the Grand Chew Chew calmly. "Hundreds!"

The Scarecrow dropped back into his chair, too shocked for speech. He—the Scarecrow of Oz—had eaten hundreds of cats! What would Dorothy say to that. Ugh! This was his first experience with Silver Island fare. He had always spent the dinner hours in the garden. He sighed, and looked wistfully at the bean pole in the center of the hall. Every minute he was feeling less and less like the Emperor of the Silver Island and more and more like the plain Scarecrow of Oz?

"Your Majesty seems out of spirits," said Happy Toko, as he placed himself and the huge watering can beside the Emperor's bench in the garden later in the evening.

"I wish I were," said the Scarecrow. "To have an Emperor's spirit wished on you is no joke, my dear Tappy. It's a blinking bore!" At that moment the fireworks commenced. The garden, ablaze with many