Magical Mimics in Oz

<p><SPAN name="CHAPTER_3" id="CHAPTER_3"></SPAN></p> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus14.jpg" width-obs="507" height-obs="350" alt=""/></div> <h2>CHAPTER 3<br/> <small>Mount Illuso</small></h2> <p>On that far away day those many years ago, when Queen Lurline had left the baby Ozma to become the ruler of Oz, Queen Lurline did not pause, for she knew the most important part of her work was still to be done. If the Land of Oz was to be the happy fairyland she hoped it would be, she must protect it from the evil of the Mimics.</p> <p>With this thought in mind, the good Queen left Oz and flew straight to the bleak land of the Phanfasms. Signalling to one of her Fairy Maidens to accompany her, Queen Lurline flew down to grim Mount Illuso, home of the dread Mimics.</p> <p>Pausing at the entrance to the great hollow mountain Queen Lurline bade her fairy companion await her return. Then, taking the precaution to make herself invisible to the eyes of the Mimics, the Fairy Queen stepped into the enchanted Mountain.</p> <p>The sight that met her eyes caused even the good Queen Lurline to chill and falter momentarily on the rocky ledge on which she stood. Above her rose the vast, cavernous walls of the hollow mountain. Spread out below were the corridors burrowed into the rock by the Mimics. In dark caverns deep below these corridors the monsters made their homes.</p> <p>All of this scene was lighted by flaming torches set at intervals in the walls of the cavern. The torches flared deep red, casting lurid, flickering shadows and adding to the weird unreality of the scene.</p> <p>As Queen Lurline gazed, the Mimics were moving through the rough-hewn corridors or flying through the air. The most unusual thing about the creatures was their strange habit of constantly changing their shapes. They shifted restlessly from one form to another. Since they were creatures of evil, the shapes they assumed were all forms of the blackest evil and dread.</p> <hr class="chap" /> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus15.jpg" width-obs="252" height-obs="350" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> <p>Even as Queen Lurline watched, fascinated by the strange spectacle, the Mimics shifted and changed and flitted from one loathsome shape to another. A monster bird with leathery wings and a horned head dropped to the ground, and in another second assumed the squat body of a huge toad with the head of a hyena, snarling with laughter. A crawling red lizard, all of ten feet in length, turned into a giant butterfly with black wings and the body of a serpent. A great, green bat with wicked talons alighted on a ledge not far from Queen Lurline and in an instant changed to a mammoth, hairy creature with the body of a huge ape and the head of an alligator.</p> <hr class="chap" /> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus16.jpg" width-obs="277" height-obs="350" alt=""/> <div class="caption"> <p><span class="smcap">The sight that met her eyes caused even the good Queen Lurline to chill and falter</span></p> </div> </div> <hr class="chap" /> <p>The good Queen shuddered in spite of herself. What she had seen had only served to strengthen her resolution to protect the Oz people for all time against the Mimics. Immediately she began weaving a powerful incantation. In a few minutes the enchantment was completed. Queen Lurline breathed a sigh of relief, for she knew that the Mimics were now powerless to harm any of the fairy inhabitants of the Land of Oz.</p> <p>Queen Lurline was well aware that the Mimics' strange habit of changing their shapes was the least of their evil characteristics. Much more dreadful was the power possessed by these creatures to <i>steal</i> the shapes of both mortals and immortals. A Mimic accomplished this simply by casting himself on the shadow of his victim. Instantly the Mimic arose, a perfect double in outward appearance of the person whose shadow he had stolen. As for the unfortunate victim, he fell into a spell of enchantment, unable to move or speak, but conscious of all that was taking place about him.</p> <p>No wonder Queen Lurline sighed with relief when she thought that her powerful magic had made the Oz people secure against the dread evil of the Mimics!</p> <p>Queen Lurline slipped from the cavern through the stone portal of Mount Illuso. For a moment she paused, breathing deeply and gratefully of the fresh air. But she must not tarry now. She still had other important work to do here. When she returned to her fairy companion, Queen Lurline gave her brief instructions concerning the important part she was to play at Mount Illuso in the coming years. Then they both spread their fairy wings and flew straight to the very summit of the hollow mount.</p> <hr class="chap" /> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus17.jpg" width-obs="498" height-obs="350" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />