The years had not treated him kindly. His once bright, perky face was now weathered and worn, showing all signs of age. His figure was decrepit, bowed by the wind and rain. Any scrap of straw left after the terrible fire was now long gone. His clothes, mere tatters now, were dingy remnants holding barely a suggestion of their former cheerful colors. In fact, he blended in with his surroundings quite well, which was probably the reason Dorothy did not notice him in the first place.
After an hour of travel, Dorothy had sat down at the edge of the old, abandoned cornfield to rest and get a bite to eat. She had settled in to enjoy the treats the Winkies had sent along, completely oblivious to the figure behind her. Not three yards across the stubble perched the dusty, worn Scarecrow.
"Smells simply scrumptious. Permit a portion, please?"
Dorothy jumped to her feet, alarmed and startled at the sound of the husky voice. "Who said that?" she cried.
"Jumpy! Just me," came the reply.
"Who is 'me'?" asked Dorothy, looking around quickly, but finding no one. Toto growled and bared his teeth at the unexpected presence.
The scarecrow sighed. He was quite used to being passed over. "Look left, lass," he directed.
"Oh!" Dorothy gasped. "You're a scarecrow! But…you can talk? And you talk funny, too!"Having never seen anything of the sort, she was quite perplexed.
After years of hanging on his pole, all by his lonesome, the scarecrow had developed an interesting wit. The only way he kept from going insane (which is debatable, of course) was by philosophizing his days away. He had done so much thinking over the last century that his mind was very well developed. He had theories on most everything, from why the sky was blue to how birds flew. Even if his theories were completely wrong (and most of them were!), he felt the need to educate everyone who passed. In our world, he would be considered a "know-it-all," and a most annoying one, at that. Anyway, he could see his attempt at witticisms would be lost on this simple girl, and decided to speak on her level. An idea suddenly popped into his head; he could finally leave this field! He answered, "Yes, I'm a scarecrow. And I have been hanging here for a very long time. What say you help me down, and then you can be on your merry way?"
"Should I trust you?" Dorothy asked.
"Of course!" replied the scarecrow. "I'm even willing to travel with you for a ways if you like. I do know the area quite well." (He really didn't, but he had imagined where the roads led so often that in his mind, fiction had become fact.)
"Alright. I suppose I can help." Dorothy remembered Glinda's advice about making friends, and she saw this as an opportunity. "But you should know that I'm following the Red Brick Road to get to the Amethyst City, so that the Warlock of Oz can help me get home." As she was talking, she gently lifted the scarecrow off his post.
"Many thanks!" the scarecrow cried. "I've always wanted to visit the Amethyst City. I know everything about that place! I hear they have many schools. I would love to share the vast expanse of my knowledge with little Ozians!" He went to take a step, but for lack of stuffing, collapsed.
"Oh!" gasped Dorothy. "Here, let me stuff you with some of these corn husks, and you'll be as good as new."
"Of course. I thought of that myself, just didn't get around to saying it yet," offered the scarecrow.
After fixing him up, Dorothy, Toto and the scarecrow set off merrily down the Red Brick Road, passing through many empty fields and eerie forests. Dorothy was very glad to have company, and they talked and sang through the early afternoon. "Oh, we're off to see the Warlock, the wonderful Warlock of Oz!"