The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz was written by and American writer L.Frank Baum and published in 1900. It was the first in a series of literary fantasies.

A young girl named Dorothy lives with her aunt and uncle on a farm in Kansas. Dorthy is alone in the house with her dog a cyclone lifts the house and sets it down "over "the rainbow" in the fanciful land of OZ. The house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East and kills her. Dorothy meets some lively people named the Munchkins and the GOOD witch of the North. The Good Witch gives Dorothy the silver slippers which had been worn by the Wicked Witch of the East.

Dorothy wants to return to her farm in Kansas. The Good Witch of the North tells her she must get help from the Wizard of Oz who lives in the Emerald City.

 

 

On her way, she and her dog Toto meet the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Cowardly Lion. They join her in her trip to the Emerald City. They want to get help from the Wizard of Oz as well: the Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Woodsman wants a heart, and the Lion wants courage.

They see the Wizard, each one separately.

The Wizard promises to help them if they would first kill the Wicked Witch of the West. They are able to achieve this task.

The Wizard gives the scarecrow, the tin woodsman,and the lion items representing a brain, a heart and courage. It is then found out that the Wizard is not a magical person at all, but an ordinary man who came to Oz in a hot air balloon. He tells Dorothy to join him in a hot air balloon to journey back to Kansas. However, just as she is about to get into the balloon, her dog Toto runs after a kitten. Dorothy was not able to get into the balloon in time to go back home with the Wizard.

She is ultimately helped by Glinda, the Good Witch of the South who tells Dorothy that she has had the power to go back home on her own all along. The Silver Slippers have the power to take her anywhere she wants to go. The Scarecrow is then given the power to rule the Emerald Kingdom, the lion is sent back to the forest, and the Lion to the Winkie Country which had previously been ruled by the Wicked Witch of the West.

There are other magical characters in the story, such as the winged monkeys.