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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one, the Lion becomes the King of Beasts.
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  Speaker 1: After climbing down from the China Wall, the travelers found
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  Speaker 1: themselves in a disagreeable country, full of bogs and marshes
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  Speaker 1: and covered with tall, rank grass. It was difficult to
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  Speaker 1: walk without falling into money holes, for the grass was
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  Speaker 1: so thick that it hid them from sight. However, by
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  Speaker 1: carefully picking their way, they got safely along until they
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  Speaker 1: reached solid ground. But here the country seemed wilder than ever,
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  Speaker 1: and after a long and tiresome walk through the underbrush,
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  Speaker 1: they entered another forest, where the trees were bigger and
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  Speaker 1: older than any they had ever seen. This forest is
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  Speaker 1: perfectly delightful, declared the lion, looking around him with joy.
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  Speaker 1: Never have I seen a more beautiful place. It seems gloomy,
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  Speaker 1: said the scarecrow. Not a bit of it, answered the lion.
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  Speaker 1: I should like to live here all my life. See
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  Speaker 1: how soft the dried leaves are under your feet, and
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  Speaker 1: how rich and green the mosses that clean these old trees.
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  Speaker 1: Surely no wild beasts could wish a pleasanter home. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: there are wild beast in the forest now, said Dorothy.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose there are returned the lion, but I do
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  Speaker 1: not see any of them about. They walked through the
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  Speaker 1: forest until it became too dark to go any farther.
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy and Toto and the lion lay down to sleep,
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  Speaker 1: while the woodmen and the scarecrow kept watch over them
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  Speaker 1: as usual. When morning came, they started again. Before they
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  Speaker 1: had gone far, they heard a low rumble, as of
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  Speaker 1: the growling of many wild animals. Toto whimpered a little,
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  Speaker 1: but none of the others was frightened, and they kept
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  Speaker 1: along the well trodden path until they came to an
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  Speaker 1: opening in the wood, in which there were gathered hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of beasts of every variety. There were tigers and elephants,
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  Speaker 1: and bears, and wolves and foxes and all the others
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  Speaker 1: in the natural history, and for a moment Dorothy was afraid,
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  Speaker 1: But the lion explained that the animals were holding a meeting,
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  Speaker 1: and he judged by their snarling and growling that they
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  Speaker 1: were in great troumble. As he spoke, several of the
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  Speaker 1: beasts caught sight of him, and at once the great
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  Speaker 1: assemblage hushed, as if by magic. The biggest of the
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  Speaker 1: tigers came up to the lion and bowed saying, welcome,
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  Speaker 1: o king of beasts. You have come in good time
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  Speaker 1: to fight our enemy and bring peace to all the
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  Speaker 1: animals of the forest once more. What is your trouble,
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  Speaker 1: asked the lion quietly. We are all threatened, answered the tiger,
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  Speaker 1: by a fierce enemy which has lately come into this forest.
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  Speaker 1: It is a most tremendous monster, like a great spider,
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  Speaker 1: with a body as big as an elephant, and legs
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  Speaker 1: as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of
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  Speaker 1: these long legs, And as the monster crawls through the forest,
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  Speaker 1: he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it
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  Speaker 1: into his mouth, where it eats it as a spider
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  Speaker 1: does a fly. Not one of us is safe while
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  Speaker 1: this fierce creature is alive. And we had called a
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  Speaker 1: meeting to decide how to take care of ourselves when
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  Speaker 1: you came among us, The lion thought for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: Are there any other lions in this forest? He asked, No,
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  Speaker 1: there were some, but the monster has eaten them all,
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  Speaker 1: And besides, there were none of them nearly so large
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  Speaker 1: and brave as you. If I put an end to
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  Speaker 1: your enemy, will you bow down to me and obey me?
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  Speaker 1: As king of the forest, inquired the lion. We will
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  Speaker 1: do that, gladly, returned the tiger, and all the other
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  Speaker 1: beast roared with a mighty roar. We will where is
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  Speaker 1: this great spider of yours, now, asked the lion. Yonder
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  Speaker 1: among the oak trees, said the tiger, pointing with his
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  Speaker 1: fore foot. Take good care of these friends of mine,
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  Speaker 1: said the lion, and I will go at once to
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  Speaker 1: fight the monster. He bade his comrades goodbye, and march
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  Speaker 1: proudly away to do battle with the enemy. The great
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  Speaker 1: spider was lying asleep when the lion found him, and
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  Speaker 1: it looked so ugly that its foe turned up his
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  Speaker 1: nose in disgust. Its legs were quite as long as
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  Speaker 1: the tiger had said, and its body covered with coarse
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  Speaker 1: black hair. It had a great mouth with a row
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  Speaker 1: of sharp teeth a foot long, but its head was
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  Speaker 1: joined to the pudgy body by a neck as slender
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  Speaker 1: as a wasp's waist. This gave the lion a hint
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  Speaker 1: of the best way to attack the creature, and as
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  Speaker 1: he knew it was easier to fight it asleep than awake,
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  Speaker 1: he gave a great spring and landed directly upon the
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  Speaker 1: monster's back. Then, with one blow of his heavy paw,
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  Speaker 1: all armed with sharp claws, he knocked the spider's head
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  Speaker 1: from its body. Jumping down, he watched it until the
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  Speaker 1: long legs stopped wiggling. When he knew that it was
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  Speaker 1: quite dead, the lion went back to the opening where
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  Speaker 1: the beasts of the forest were waiting for him, and said, proudly,
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  Speaker 1: you need fear your enemy no longer. Then the beasts
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  Speaker 1: spowed down to the lion their king, and he promised
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  Speaker 1: to come back and rule over them as soon as
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy was safely on her way to Kansas. End of
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  Speaker 1: chapter twenty one.