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Magical Mimics in Oz

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<div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus97.jpg" width-obs="533" height-obs="350" alt=""/></div> <h2>CHAPTER 20 In the Mirrored Ballroom</h2> Now Ozma stepped forward. With happy tears of gratitude sparkling in her eyes, she grasped the hands of Princess Ozana. "How can I ever thank you for what you have done?" Ozana seemed embarrassed. "The truth is," she admitted, "had I done my duty, as Queen Lurline instructed, and watched the Mimics more closely, the creatures would never have dared to invade Oz. I owe all of you my humblest apology for this neglect of duty. The least I could do," she added soberly, "was to right the wrongs already committed." "Well," said Dorothy happily, "all's well that ends well, an' we think you're fine, Ozana." "Thank you, my dear," smiled Ozana, affectionately stroking the little girl's hair. "I think we owe Toto a great debt of thanks," observed the wise Glinda. "Had it not been for the little dog's bravery, you and I, Ozma, would have undergone the unpleasant experience of becoming Mimic victims." "You are right," agreed Ozma, turning to the dog. "I had not forgotten your brave action, Toto. Nothing Glinda and I can say or do will properly reward you. Nevertheless I shall have made for you a handsome new collar studded with emeralds and bearing your name in gold letters as a slight token of our gratitude." "Thank you, your Highness," said Toto shyly. "It was nothing, really. When I saw the big birds stealing the shapes of Trot and Betsy and Button Bright and all the others out in the garden, I was frightened so I ran and hid under your throne. I could peep out and see everything that was going on, and when the Mimic King and Queen threatened you and Glinda I became so angry that I just forgot about everything else." "Good dog!" said the Wizard, patting Toto's head. Dorothy beamed proudly at her little pet. "Dear me!" exclaimed Ozma, gazing at the Mimics in the throne room. "How are we ever to transport all these creatures to their cavern home? We can't have them here to overrun Oz, even though they are now harmless," she added, shuddering with revulsion at the shifting shapes of evil assumed by the Mimics. "That is simple," said Ozana. "Is there a room in the palace with a great many mirrors?" "Yes," replied Ozma, "the Grand Ballroom which adjoins the throne room—its walls and ceiling are composed entirely of mirrors." "Then let us go to the ballroom," said Ozana. Ozma and Glinda led Ozana to the entrance of the Grand Ballroom. Dorothy and the Wizard and Toto followed. Ozana paused before the great door which was flung wide open. In her bell-like voice she murmured the words of a powerful fairy spell. Immediately King Umb and Queen Ra, followed by the other Mimics in the throne room, advanced as though they were in a trance to the portal of the mirrored ballroom. Then they passed into the room itself. Ozana continued to chant her fairy spell. Now came a whole procession of the Mimic creatures, first from all over the Royal Palace and finally from every part of the Emerald City. They came trooping in by the hundreds, wearing a myriad of fantastic shapes and forms. At length the very last Mimic had entered the ballroom, and, huge though the room was, it seemed to the onlookers that it must surely be filled to overflowing with the Mimic horde. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus98.jpg" width-obs="585" height-obs="350" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> By this time, the Scarecrow, Scraps, Tik-Tok and the rest who had been bound with ropes by the Mimics were freed and they with Trot, Cap'n Bill, Betsy Bobbin, Button Bright and the others all crowded about the entrance to look curiously into the ballroom. Even the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger and Hank the Mule crowded into the throne room. The three beasts had awakened from the sleep cast on them by Queen Ra when Ozana had re-woven the spell that protected the Oz inhabitants. "Why," rumbled the Cowardly Lion, "the room's empty!" In a sense the lion was right. There was no one in the Grand Ballroom, it was true. But Dorothy and the others could plainly see the flitting, shifting shadow shapes of the Mimics in the mirrors that paneled the walls and ceiling of the great room—shadow creatures caught and confined in the depths of the mirrors! "I wonder," Dorothy whispered, "what will become of them." <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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