The Wizard of Oz
Retold by Mutitoon
Chapter Three
In the next morning, Dorothy felt the sun's glare on her closed eyes and woke up. The girl sat up and let out a long yawn. Dorothy looked around and saw Toto sitting in front of a scarecrow, which was hanging on a pole. Dororthy saw the scarecrow, which was made of brown shirt, black pants, black boots that lost its luster, dirty white gloves, a black hat with a wide trim, and a tan bag with a strangely human-like face painted on it, all stuffed with straw.
"Now, why would Toto be there?" Dorothy asked herself as she got to her feet, which startled all of the crows in the cornfield.
"Wow!" A young man's voice rang out in awe, "You're the smartest person I've seen. I knew it when I saw you last night!"
Dorothy saw surprised and started looking for anyone. Then, she heard Toto barking and turned to see the little dog yelping at the scarecrow. As she walked to her dog, Dorothy thought that the dog was barking at a random crow at first, but she recalled what happened the evening before and decided to talk to the scarecrow.
Once, next to Toto, who stopped barking, the girl saw that the clothes were torn, which allowed the straw in the clothes to be exposed, and there was black paint on face to make the scarecrow look even more human. Dorothy, keeping her doubts about the scarecrow's ability to talk to herself, asked the stuffed man, "Did you say somethin'?"
"Yes." The reply came, which shocked Dorothy and caused Toto to start barking again. The scarecrow looked up and smiled as he continued speaking.
"I could never scare those crows, not since their king told them that I couldn't chase them out of the cornfield. Boy, I sure wish I had a brain."
Dorothy saw the scarecrow's sad, brown eyes and asked, "A brain to scare crows?"
"Well, not just at scaring crows, it's getting a job really." The scarecrow admitted.
Dorothy thought about what the straw-filled man had said and got an idea.
"Why don't you come with me to see the Wizard of Oz? He could give a brian."
The scarecrow turned to Dorothy in surprise and asked, "Really?'
"I'm very sure." Dorothy admitted, "Zeniba, the Grandmother-Witch of the North told me the Wizard could help me. Maybe he could help you too."
"A brain..." mused the hanging scarecrow, "...I'll probably get better job than this one."
"Maybe." Dorothy giggled.
The scarecrow returned his sight to the girl and the dog and said, "Let's go!"
"Oh!" Dorothy exclaimed, remembering the Vampire-Witch of the West, Elda.
"What's wrong?" The scarecrow noticed the girl's facial expression.
"I forgot that I'm also in trouble." Dorothy confessed, "I have a wicked witch mad at me, and I don't want anyone gettin' hurt because of me."
"I don't mind." The scarecrow said in a carefree manner, "The only thing that I'm scared of is fire, but I'll go through it to get a brain, even it's a small one."
"Really?" Dorothy asked in amazement, which allowed her to consider allowing the scarecrow to join her. Then, she said, "All right, but how do I get you down?"
"Oh, yeah!" The stuffed man exclaimed, remembering that he was hanging on the pole, "There's a lever on the back. All you gotta do is pull it."
"Okay." Dorothy said. She went to the pole and found the lever, which had a web on it. Despite her dislike of spiders, Dorothy took a deep breath, grabbed the lever, pulled it, and freed the scarecrow from the pole. She heard the straw-filled man yell out a shocked 'whoa' and saw the scarecrow on the ground.
"There I go again." The scarecrow laughed out as he sat up and saw his stuffing on the ground. He grabbed the straw and started picking himself back togther.
Dorothy went to the scarecrow and asked, "Does it hurt?"
"Ah, no!" The straw man laughed out, "This is nothing new to me. Although, walking is something I'm gonna need help with."
Dorothy assumed that her new ally had spent his life on a pole and agreed to help him learn to walk by allowing him to lean on her shoulder.
"Whoa!" Dorothy said, trying not to drop the scarecrow.
"Sorry, uh..." The scarecrow said, realizing that he did not know Dorothy's name.
"Dorothy." The girl announced, "My name's Dorothy Gale."
"Nice to meet you, Dorothy." The scarecrow smiled, "I'm called either the scarecrow, or Tenchi."
"Tenchi?" Dorothy asked, a little confused about the name. The scarecrow saw the face the girl made and explained.
"Yeah, the farmer's daughter named me, 'Tenchi', because I was going to be placed on a pole. She believed that the name matched me perfectly, since I was being placed between the earth and the sky."
"Okay." Dorothy said, understanding the explaination.
Tenchi saw Toto and asked the dog for a name. Dorothy giggled before she told the scarecrow the dog's name and that Toto cannot speak.
"I'm sorry." Tenchi said, grinning sheephishly.
"Now, I need to find the yellow brick road." Dorothy said, thinking out loud.
"You mean that one?" The scarecrow asked, pointing to the corner of the field.
Dorothy went to where Tenchi pointed at and saw the yellow brick road. Toto and Tenchi, who kept falling down and getting back up, followed her to the road.
"Wow!" Dorothy exclaimed joyfully as she hugged the scarecrow, who yelled, "Hey! I fall apart easily!"
The girl stepped after from the scarecrow and said, "Sorry!"
The scarecrow laughed and replied, "That's all right."
Then, the girl, the dog and the scarecrow started their terk to the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz.