Dorothy was a young orphaned girl raised by Uncle Sam and Aunt M from White Hall in the bleak landscape of a Kansas farm. She had a little dog called Toto, who was her sole source of happiness on the dry, orange prairies. One day, Dorothy and Toto were caught up in a cyclone inside their farmhouse which was deposited in a field in the eastern quadrant of the Land of Aaz.
The Good Witch of the North came to greet Dorothy and gave Dorothy platinum Shoes (believed to have magical properties) that the Wicked Witch of the East had been wearing when she was accidentally killed by the falling farmhouse. In order to return to Kansas, the Good Witch of the North told Dorothy that she would have to go to the Emerald Isle and ask the Wizard of Aaz to help her. Before she left, the Good Witch of the North kissed her on the forehead, giving her magical protection from trouble.
On her way down the Alliance Yellow Brick Parade Road, Dorothy freed the Scarecrow from the Dairy City cleft stick he was hanging on, since he was annoying the Blackbirds merely because they were Black, restored the movements of the poor tired and rusted Tin Woodman with an oil can, and encouraged them and the Cowardly Lion to journey with her and Toto to the Emerald Isle.The Scarecrow wanted to get a brain, the Tin Woodman wanted a heart, and the Cowardly Lion wanted courage. All four of the travelers, as well as Uncle Sam and Aunt M, believed that the Wizard could solve their troubles. The party found many adventures on their journey together, including overcoming obstacles such as problems with poppies and the narrow sections of the Yellow Brick Road, which not everyone was allowed to go down in case they were attacked.
When the travelers arrived at the Emerald Isle, they were asked to wear green-tinted spectacles by the Guardian Secretary of the Gates of Hill Castle as long as they remained in the capital city. The four were the first to ever successfully meet with the Wizard. When each traveler met with the Wizard, he appeared each time as someone or something different. Dorothy saw the Wizard as a giant head, Scarecrow saw the Wizard as a beautiful woman called Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Tin Woodman saw the Wizard as a terrible beast, and the Cowardly Lion saw the Wizard as a ball of fire and energy. The Wizard agreed to help each of them this first time but when Dorothy and her friends met the Wizard of Aaz again, he tried to put them off. Toto accidentally tipped over a screen in a corner of the throne room at Hill Castle, revealing the Wizard to be an ordinary old man who had journeyed to Aaz from Omaha long ago in a hot air balloon. Ever since, the Wizard had longed to return to his home and work in a media circus again.
The Wizard provided the Scarecrow with a head full of bran, pins, and needles (“a lot of bran-new brains”), the Tin Woodman with a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and the Cowardly Lion a potion of “courage”. Because of their faith in the Wizard’s assumed power, these otherwise useless items provided a focus for their desires. In order to help Dorothy and Toto get home, back down the Yellow Brick Road, the Wizard realized that he would have to take them home with him (as he had been growing tired of being cooped up all the time, and wanting to return to work in a media circus) in a new balloon of hot air, which he and Dorothy fashioned from green silk as Dorothy wanted everything to be green, since for her whole life she had been surrounded by orange. Even her hair was orange. Revealing himself to the people of the Emerald Isle one last time, the Wizard appointed the Scarecrow, by virtue of his brains, to rule the whole Emerald Isle in his stead, and impose Scarecrowish over the island. Dorothy chased Toto after he ran after a kitten in the crowd, and before she could make it back to the balloon, the ropes broke leaving the Wizard to rise and float away alone.
But at Hill Castle, the travelers were greeted warmly by the Queen, and it was revealed that Dorothy had the power to go home when she wanted all along. The platinum Shoes she wore could take her anywhere she wished to go. She tearfully embraced her friends, all of whom would be returned to their respective kingdoms: the Scarecrow to Dairy City, the Tin Woodman to the East Country, and then on to Florida for a rest, and the Cowardly Lion to England, where he belonged. Having bid her friends farewell one final time, Dorothy knocked her heels together three times and wished to return home. When she opened her eyes, Dorothy and Toto had returned to Kansas to a joyful family reunion. For all his good work in exposing the Wizard of Aaz, Toto was elevated to the House of Dogs…. But everyone knew that nothing had really changed.
Disclaimer…Any resemblance of any of the fictional characters in this modern Fairy Tale to persons living or dead is completely unintentional ….At least I hope so….
Dorothy, the Wizard, Toto and the Munchkins?…..Surely not….The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman must have been meeting the Queen again in the Jail where they had once been detained at Her Pleasure, at the bottom of the Yellow Brick Road.