Latest / Adventure Books Library / 21 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L Frank Baum

Transcript

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

• 0:00
  Chapter twenty one, the Lion becomes the King of Beasts. After climbing down
• 0:07
  from the China Wall, the travelers found themselves in a disagreeable country, full
• 0:11
  of bogs and marshes and covered with tall, rank grass. It was difficult
• 0:16
  to walk without falling into money holes, for the grass was so thick that
• 0:20
  it hid them from sight. However, by carefully picking their way, they
• 0:25
  got safely along until they reached solid ground. But here the country seemed wilder
• 0:30
  than ever, and after a long and tiresome walk through the underbrush, they
• 0:35
  entered another forest, where the trees were bigger and older than any they had
• 0:40
  ever seen. This forest is perfectly delightful, declared the lion, looking around
• 0:46
  him with joy. Never have I seen a more beautiful place. It seems
• 0:51
  gloomy, said the scarecrow. Not a bit of it, answered the lion.
• 0:56
  I should like to live here all my life. See how soft the
• 1:00
  dried leaves are under your feet, and how rich and green the mosses that
• 1:03
  clean these old trees. Surely no wild beasts could wish a pleasanter home.
• 1:10
  Perhaps there are wild beast in the forest now, said Dorothy. I suppose
• 1:14
  there are returned the lion, but I do not see any of them about.
• 1:19
  They walked through the forest until it became too dark to go any farther.
• 1:22
  Dorothy and Toto and the lion lay down to sleep, while the woodmen
• 1:26
  and the scarecrow kept watch over them as usual. When morning came, they
• 1:30
  started again. Before they had gone far, they heard a low rumble,
• 1:34
  as of the growling of many wild animals. Toto whimpered a little, but
• 1:38
  none of the others was frightened, and they kept along the well trodden path
• 1:42
  until they came to an opening in the wood, in which there were gathered
• 1:47
  hundreds of beasts of every variety. There were tigers and elephants, and bears,
• 1:53
  and wolves and foxes and all the others in the natural history, and
• 1:59
  for a moment Dorothy was afraid, But the lion explained that the animals were
• 2:04
  holding a meeting, and he judged by their snarling and growling that they were
• 2:07
  in great troumble. As he spoke, several of the beasts caught sight of
• 2:12
  him, and at once the great assemblage hushed, as if by magic.
• 2:16
  The biggest of the tigers came up to the lion and bowed saying, welcome,
• 2:21
  o king of beasts. You have come in good time to fight our
• 2:24
  enemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forest once more. What
• 2:30
  is your trouble, asked the lion quietly. We are all threatened, answered
• 2:35
  the tiger, by a fierce enemy which has lately come into this forest.
• 2:38
  It is a most tremendous monster, like a great spider, with a body
• 2:43
  as big as an elephant, and legs as long as a tree trunk.
• 2:46
  It has eight of these long legs, And as the monster crawls through the
• 2:51
  forest, he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it into his mouth,
• 2:54
  where it eats it as a spider does a fly. Not one of
• 2:59
  us is safe while this fierce creature is alive. And we had called a
• 3:02
  meeting to decide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us,
• 3:07
  The lion thought for a moment, Are there any other lions in this forest?
• 3:13
  He asked, No, there were some, but the monster has eaten
• 3:16
  them all, And besides, there were none of them nearly so large and
• 3:21
  brave as you. If I put an end to your enemy, will you
• 3:25
  bow down to me and obey me? As king of the forest, inquired
• 3:30
  the lion. We will do that, gladly, returned the tiger, and
• 3:34
  all the other beast roared with a mighty roar. We will where is this
• 3:38
  great spider of yours, now, asked the lion. Yonder among the oak
• 3:44
  trees, said the tiger, pointing with his fore foot. Take good care
• 3:47
  of these friends of mine, said the lion, and I will go at
• 3:51
  once to fight the monster. He bade his comrades goodbye, and march proudly
• 3:55
  away to do battle with the enemy. The great spider was lying asleep when
• 4:00
  the lion found him, and it looked so ugly that its foe turned up
• 4:02
  his nose in disgust. Its legs were quite as long as the tiger had
• 4:06
  said, and its body covered with coarse black hair. It had a great
• 4:12
  mouth with a row of sharp teeth a foot long, but its head was
• 4:16
  joined to the pudgy body by a neck as slender as a wasp's waist.
• 4:21
  This gave the lion a hint of the best way to attack the creature,
• 4:27
  and as he knew it was easier to fight it asleep than awake, he
• 4:30
  gave a great spring and landed directly upon the monster's back. Then, with
• 4:34
  one blow of his heavy paw, all armed with sharp claws, he knocked
• 4:40
  the spider's head from its body. Jumping down, he watched it until the
• 4:44
  long legs stopped wiggling. When he knew that it was quite dead, the
• 4:48
  lion went back to the opening where the beasts of the forest were waiting for
• 4:51
  him, and said, proudly, you need fear your enemy no longer.
• 4:57
  Then the beasts spowed down to the lion their king, and he promised to
• 5:01
  come back and rule over them as soon as Dorothy was safely on her way
• 5:04
  to Kansas. End of chapter twenty one.