"That is true," she agreed, "and it is fortunate your mouth is so very
wide and opens so far, for otherwise all the wisdom might not be able
to get out of it."
"Perhaps nature made it wide for that very reason," said the Frogman.
"But come, let us now go on, for it is getting late and we must find
some sort of shelter before night overtakes us."



CHAPTER 4

AMONG THE WINKIES

The settled parts of the Winkie Country are full of happy and
contented people who are ruled by a tin Emperor named Nick Chopper,
who in turn is a subject of the beautiful girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz. But
not all of the Winkie Country is fully settled. At the east, which
part lies nearest the Emerald City, there are beautiful farmhouses and
roads, but as you travel west, you first come to a branch of the
Winkie River, beyond which there is a rough country where few people
live, and some of these are quite unknown to the rest of the world.
After passing through this rude section of territory, which no one
ever visits, you would come to still another branch of the Winkie
River, after crossing which you would find another well-settled part
of the Winkie Country extending westward quite to the Deadly Desert
that surrounds all the Land of Oz and separates that favored fairyland
from the more common outside world. The Winkies who live in this west
section have many tin mines, from which metal they make a great deal
of rich jewelry and other articles, all of which are highly esteemed
in the Land of Oz because tin is so bright and pretty and there is not