DM Margo In Oz Chapter 7
And then the winged monkeys flew to Margo and her friends. Some seized the tin man and dropped him from a great height onto some sharp rocks. Here he lay so battered and dented that he could not move. Others caught the scarecrow and pulled out all his straw, then they made his clothes into a small bundle and threw them into the topmost branches of a tall tree.
The remaining monkeys wound so many pieces of stout rope around the lion that it was impossible for him to struggle. They lifted him up and flew away with him to the castle, where he was placed in a small yard surrounded by a high iron fence.
But they did no harm to Margo, the leader of the winged monkeys flew up to her, grinning terribly. But when he saw the mark of the good witch's kiss on her forehead, he stopped short. ''We dare not harm this young girl, nor the goat in her arms'' he said, so very gently he picked up Margo and Lucky and carried them to the castle.
The Wicked Witch was both surprised and worried when she saw the mark on Margo's forehead. She trembled with fear when she looked down at Margo's feet and saw the silver shoes. It was only when she looked into Margo's eyes that she felt safe again.
''The child obviously doesn't know what wonderful powers the shoes give her'' she thought, ''But I can still make her my slave''. So with a happy cackle, she led Margo to the kitchen and ordered her to clean the pots and pans. In the days that followed, Margo had to work very hard. She lived in fear of being beaten. But in fact, the witch didn't dare strike her cos of the mark on her forehead. Apart from Lucky, Margo's only friend was the lion. Each night, she crept to the yard where he was imprisoned and lay down beside him and together they tried to plan their escape.
Now the Wicked Witch longed to have Margo's silver shoes and all the power that went with them. So one day she played a nasty trick on her. She put an iron bar in the middle of the kitchen floor and then made it invisible. When Margo next walked across the room, she didn't realize it was there and fell right over it.
In her fall, one of the silver shoes came off and with a cry of triumph, the Wicked Witch snatched it up. ''Give me back my shoe!'' Margo yelled. ''Ha ha, ha ha, certainly not!'' laughed the Witch, ''I shall keep it and some day, I shall get the other one from you too!''.
This made Margo so angry that she picked up her bucket of water and threw it over the witch. The wicked woman gave a screech of fear and then as Margo looked at her in wonder, she began to shrink and fall away. ''See what you've done!'' she screamed, ''Didn't you know that water would be the end of me? I shall be all melted away! Look out, here I go!''.
With these words, the Witch fell down in a brown, shapeless mess and began to spread over the floor. Seeing that she had really melted away, Margo snatched up the silver shoe and ran to tell the lion. The lion was overjoyed to hear Margo's news. So too, were the Winkles.
When Margo told them they were no longer slaves, they agreed to help her find the tin man and the scarecrow. A group of them travelled all that day and part of the next until they came to the rocky plain where the tin man lay all battered and bent. They lifted him gently onto a stretcher and carried him back to the castle.
Here the tinsmiths hammered and twisted, soldered and polished until the tin man was his old self again. He had a few patches, it is true, but he also had a new golden handle for his axe. He was so please that he wept tears of joy which Margo had to wipe away before they rusted his joints.
The next day, Margo and her friends led a search party for the scarecrow. At last they spotted his clothes at the top of a tall tree which was impossible to climb. So the tin man chopped it down and Margo too the clothes from the branches. She carried them back to the castle, stuffed them with nice clean straw and there was the scarecrow as good as ever, thanking them over and over again for saving him.
The friends spent serval happy days in the castle. But Margo couldn't forget her mom, Lucy and dad, Gru, her sisters and her home in the Gru residence. So one day she said, ''We must go back to Oz and remind him of his promise to help us if we destroyed the Wicked Witch''.
Her friends all agreed. The next day, they would say goodbye to the Winkles and then set out again for the Emerald City. The people of the Emerald City were very sad to lose the wonderful wizard, but they were also very proud that the scarecrow was now their ruler.
''What other city?'' they said, ''Is ruled by a stuffed man?''. The morning after Oz had gone up in the balloon, the four travellers meet in the throne room. The scarecrow sat on the big throne and the others stood respectfully before him. ''When I remember that just a short time ago, I was up a pole in a farmer's cornfield'' said the new ruler, ''I am quite satisfied with my lot''.
''I wish I were'' said Margo, ''But all I want is to return to my family home with my mom, dad my sisters and all the minions. I don't know how I shall get back now that Oz has disappeared''. ''Hm, I've been thinking'' said the scarecrow, ''Why don't you call the winged monkeys and ask them to carry you over the dessert to where you live?''.