On the second day of the journey south, Dorothy and her friends passed through an airy forest.
At the edge of the forest they came to a wall.
The wall went in both directions for as far as the eye could see.
The wall was white, shiny, and smooth, like the surface of a dish.
It was about five meters high.
"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy.
"I will make a ladder," said the Tin Man.
The first one up the ladder was the Scarecrow.
When the Scarecrow reached the top, he said, "Oh my! This is amazing."
The others quickly followed him up the ladder, and all were amazed by what they saw.
There were many brightly painted houses made of porcelain.
Each was quite small, the biggest being only as high as Dorothy's waist.
There were also pretty little barns with white porcelain fences and many porcelain cows, sheep, horses, pigs, and chickens.
The porcelain people were both strange and beautiful.
"We must cross this strange place to get to the other side," said Dorothy.
"It would be unwise for us to go in any direction but south."
They walked through the land, and they came to a pretty porcelain milkmaid milking a cow.
The cow gave a sudden kick.
The stool, the pail, and the milkmaid were knocked over.
Dorothy was shocked to see that the cow had broken its leg.
The milkmaid shouted at them angrily. "Look what you have done!"
"We must be very careful," said the Tin Man. "Everything is easily broken."
Dorothy thought all these porcelain creatures were beautiful.
When she saw a princess, she followed her.
The princess started to run, and Dorothy kept following.
"Don't chase me!" yelled the princess.
"Why not?" asked Dorothy.
"Because if I run I might fall and break," answered the princess.
"But you could be mended," replied Dorothy.
"Yes, but I would not be as pretty after being mended," said the princess.
"I think you are very beautiful.
Will you come with me to Kansas?" asked Dorothy.
"If I leave this land, I will turn into solid porcelain," said the princess.
"That would make me very unhappy."
"Oh, I didn't know," said Dorothy. "I wouldn't want that to happen."
Dorothy and the princess waved good-bye.
Soon the travelers came to another wall, and they climbed over it.
"This forest is perfectly delightful," said the Lion.
"Never have I seen a more beautiful place."
"It seems gloomy," said the Scarecrow.
"Not to me," replied the Lion.
"The ground looks soft and the moss is so green, I would like to live here for the rest of my life."
"Perhaps there are animals that live here," said Dorothy.
"Perhaps," said the Lion. "But I do not see any of them."
They had walked only a little farther when they came to the greatest gathering of wild beasts they had ever seen.
"Welcome, King of the Beasts," said a tiger.
"Have you come to fight the monster?"
"What monster?" asked the Lion.
The tiger described a spider-like creature as large as an elephant.
The Lion thought for a moment and asked, "Are there any other lions in this forest?"
"Not now," answered the tiger. "The monster has eaten them."
"If I kill this monster for you, will you bow before me and call me your king?" asked the Lion.
"We will!" roared all the animals at once.
The monster was sleeping when the Lion found it, and it was as ugly as the tiger had described.
The Lion saw the monster's weakness.
It had a large head that was connected to a large body by a slender neck.
The Lion jumped, landed on the monster's back, and used his large paw to knock the monster's head from its body.
The Lion returned, and the animals gave a great cheer.
"I have killed the monster," the Lion declared.
All the animals bowed before their new king.
"Now I must help Dorothy return to Kansas," said the Lion.
"After that I will return."