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01 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L Frank Baum · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, The Cyclone. Dorothy lived in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: the great Kansas Prairies with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer,
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  Speaker 1: and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house
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  Speaker 1: was small for the lumber to build it had to
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  Speaker 1: be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls,
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  Speaker 1: a floor, and a roof, which made one room, and
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  Speaker 1: this room contained a rusty looking cook stove, a cupboard
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  Speaker 1: for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and
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  Speaker 1: the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big
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  Speaker 1: bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in
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  Speaker 1: another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar,
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  Speaker 1: except a small hole dug in the ground called a
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  Speaker 1: Cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one
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  Speaker 1: of those great whirlwinds arose mighty enough to crush any
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  Speaker 1: building in its path. It was reached by a trap
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  Speaker 1: door in the middle of the floor, from which a
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  Speaker 1: ladder led down into the small dark hole. When Dorothy
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  Speaker 1: stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see
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  Speaker 1: nothing but the great gray prairie. On every side. Not
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  Speaker 1: a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of
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  Speaker 1: flat country that reached to the edge of the sky
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  Speaker 1: in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land
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  Speaker 1: into a gray mass with little cracks running through it.
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  Speaker 1: Even the grass was not green, for the sun had
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  Speaker 1: burned the tops of the long blades until they were
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  Speaker 1: the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the
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  Speaker 1: house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint
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  Speaker 1: and the rains washed it away, and now the house
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  Speaker 1: was as dull and gray as everything else. When aunt
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  Speaker 1: Em came there to live, she was a young, pretty wife.
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  Speaker 1: The sun and wind had changed her too. They had
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  Speaker 1: taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a
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  Speaker 1: sober gray. They had also taken the red from her
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  Speaker 1: cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was
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  Speaker 1: thin and gaunt and never smiled. Now. When Dorothy, who
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  Speaker 1: was an orphan, first came to her, aunt Em had
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  Speaker 1: been so startled by the child's laughter that she would
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  Speaker 1: scream and press her hands upon her heart whenever Dorothy's
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  Speaker 1: merry voice reached her ears. And she still looked at
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  Speaker 1: the little girl with wonder that she could find anything
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  Speaker 1: to laugh at. Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard
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  Speaker 1: from morning till night, and did not know what joy was.
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  Speaker 1: He was gray also from his long beard to his
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  Speaker 1: rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.
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  Speaker 1: It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh and saved her
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  Speaker 1: from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was
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  Speaker 1: not gray. He was a little black dog with long,
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  Speaker 1: silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on
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  Speaker 1: either side of his funny wee nose. Toto played all
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  Speaker 1: day long, and Dorothy played with him and loved him
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  Speaker 1: dearly to day. However they were not playing, Uncle Henry
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  Speaker 1: sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky,
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  Speaker 1: which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the
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  Speaker 1: door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the
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  Speaker 1: sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes. From the
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  Speaker 1: far north, they heard a low wail of the wind,
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  Speaker 1: and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see with a long
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  Speaker 1: grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. There now
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  Speaker 1: came a sharp whistling in the air from the south,
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  Speaker 1: and as they turned their eyes that way, they saw
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  Speaker 1: ripples in the grass coming from that direction. Also Suddenly
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  Speaker 1: Uncle Henry stood up. There's a cyclone coming, em, he
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  Speaker 1: called to his wife, I'll go look after the stalk.
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  Speaker 1: Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and
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  Speaker 1: horses were kept. Aunt Em dropped her work and came
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  Speaker 1: to the door. One glance told her of the danger
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  Speaker 1: close at hand. Quick Dorothy, she screamed, run for the cellar.
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  Speaker 1: Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed,
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  Speaker 1: and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly frightened,
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  Speaker 1: threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed
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  Speaker 1: down the ladder into the small dark hole. Dorothy caught
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  Speaker 1: Toto at last and started to follow her aunt When
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  Speaker 1: she was half way across the room, there came a
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  Speaker 1: great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so
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  Speaker 1: hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly
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  Speaker 1: upon the floor. Then a strange thing happened. The house
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  Speaker 1: whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through
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  Speaker 1: the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up
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  Speaker 1: in a balloon. North and south winds met where the
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  Speaker 1: house stood and made it the exact center of the cyclone.
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  Speaker 1: In the middle of a cyclone, the air is generally still,
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  Speaker 1: but the great pressure of the wind on every side
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  Speaker 1: of the house raised it up higher and higher, until
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  Speaker 1: it was at the very top of the cyclone, and
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  Speaker 1: there it remained and was carried miles and miles away
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  Speaker 1: as easily as you could carry a feather. It was
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  Speaker 1: very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy found she was riding quite easily after the first
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  Speaker 1: few whirls around, and another one time when the house
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  Speaker 1: tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently,
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  Speaker 1: like a baby in a cradle. Toto did not like it.
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  Speaker 1: He ran about the room now here now there, barking loudly,
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  Speaker 1: but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited
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  Speaker 1: to see what would happen. Once Toto got too near
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  Speaker 1: the open trap door and fell in, and at first
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  Speaker 1: the little girl thought she had lost him, But soon
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  Speaker 1: she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole,
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  Speaker 1: for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him
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  Speaker 1: up so that he could not fall. She crept to
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  Speaker 1: the hole, caught total by the ear, and dragged him
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  Speaker 1: into the room again, afterward closing the trap door so
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  Speaker 1: that no more accidents could happen. Hour after hour passed away,
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  Speaker 1: and slowly Dorothy got over her fright, but she felt
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  Speaker 1: quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about
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  Speaker 1: her that she nearly became deaf. At first, she wondered
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  Speaker 1: if she would be dashed to pieces when the house
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  Speaker 1: fell again, But as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened,
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  Speaker 1: she stopped whirrying and resolved to wait calmly and see
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  Speaker 1: what the future would bring. At last, she crawled over
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  Speaker 1: the swaying floor to her bed and lay down upon it,
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  Speaker 1: and Toto followed and laid down beside her. In spite
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  Speaker 1: of the swaying of the house and the wailing of
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  Speaker 1: the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.