"How strange! But if you will come with me to one of our folk gardens
I will show you the way we grow in the Land of the Mangaboos."

It appeared that these odd people, while they were able to walk
through the air with ease, usually moved upon the ground in the
ordinary way. There were no stairs in their houses, because they did
not need them, but on a level surface they generally walked just as we do.

The little party of strangers now followed the Prince across a few
more of the glass bridges and along several paths until they came to a
garden enclosed by a high hedge. Jim had refused to leave the field
of grass, where he was engaged in busily eating; so the Wizard got out
of the buggy and joined Zeb and Dorothy, and the kitten followed
demurely at their heels.

Inside the hedge they came upon row after row of large and handsome
plants with broad leaves gracefully curving until their points nearly
reached the ground. In the center of each plant grew a daintily
dressed Mangaboo, for the clothing of all these creatures grew upon
them and was attached to their bodies.

The growing Mangaboos were of all sizes, from the blossom that had
just turned into a wee baby to the full-grown and almost ripe man or
woman. On some of the bushes might be seen a bud, a blossom, a baby,
a half-grown person and a ripe one; but even those ready to pluck were
motionless and silent, as if devoid of life. This sight explained to
Dorothy why she had seen no children among the Mangaboos, a thing she
had until now been unable to account for.

"Our people do not acquire their real life until they leave their bushes,"