9. They Fight the Invisible Bears

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

by L. Frank Baum

The strangers took their seats at the table willingly enough, for
they were all hungry and the platters were now heaped with good
things to eat. In front of each place was a plate bearing one of the
delicious dama-fruit, and the perfume that rose from these was so
enticing and sweet that they were sorely tempted to eat of them and
become invisible.

But Dorothy satisfied her hunger with other things, and her
companions did likewise, resisting the temptation.

"Why do you not eat the damas?" asked the woman's voice.

"We don't want to get invis'ble," answered the girl.

"But if you remain visible the bears will see you and devour
you," said a girlish young voice, that belonged to one of the
children. "We who live here much prefer to be invisible; for we can
still hug and kiss one another, and are quite safe from the
bears."

"And we do not have to be so particular about our dress,"
remarked the man.

"And mama can't tell whether my face is dirty or not!" added the
other childish voice, gleefully.

"But I make you wash it, every time I think of it," said the
mother; "for it stands to reason your face is dirty, Ianu, whether I
can see it or not."

Dorothy laughed and stretched out her hands.

"Come here, please--Ianu and your sister--and let me feel of
you," she requested.

They came to her willingly, and Dorothy passed her hands over
their faces and forms and decided one was a girl of about her own age
and the other a boy somewhat smaller. The girl's hair was soft and
fluffy and her skin as smooth as satin. When Dorothy gently touched
her nose and ears and lips they seemed to be well and delicately
formed.

"If I could see you I am sure you would be beautiful," she
declared.

The girl laughed, and her mother said:

"We are not vain in the Valley of Voe, because we can not
display our beauty, and good actions and pleasant ways are what make
us lovely to our companions. Yet we can see and appreciate the
beauties of nature, the dainty flowers and trees, the green fields
and the clear blue of the sky."

"How about the birds and beasts and fishes?" asked Zeb.

"The birds we cannot see, because they love to eat of the damas
as much as we do; yet we hear their sweet songs and enjoy them.
Neither can we see the cruel bears, for they also eat the fruit. But
the fishes that swim in our brooks we can see, and often we catch
them to eat."

"It occurs to me you have a great deal to make you happy, even
while invisible," remarked the Wizard. "Nevertheless, we prefer to
remain visible while we are in your valley."

Just then Eureka came in, for she had been until now wandering
outside with Jim; and when the kitten saw the table set with food she
cried out:

"Now you must feed me, Dorothy, for I'm half starved."

The children were inclined to be frightened by the sight of the
small animal, which reminded them of the bears; but Dorothy reassured
them by explaining that Eureka was a pet and could do no harm even if
she wished to. Then, as the others had by this time moved away from
the table, the kitten sprang upon the chair and put her paws upon the
cloth to see what there was to eat. To her surprise an unseen hand
clutched her and held her suspended in the air. Eureka was frantic
with terror, and tried to scratch and bite, so the next moment she
was dropped to the floor,

"Did you see that, Dorothy?" she gasped.

"Yes, dear," her mistress replied; "there are people living in
this house, although we cannot see them. And you must have better
manners, Eureka, or something worse will happen to you."

She placed a plate of food upon the floor and the kitten ate
greedily.

"Give me that nice-smelling fruit I saw on the table," she
begged, when she had cleaned the plate.

"Those are damas," said Dorothy, "and you must never even taste
them, Eureka, or you'll get invis'ble, and then we can't see you at
all."

The kitten gazed wistfully at the forbidden fruit.

"Does it hurt to be invis'ble?" she asked.

"I don't know," Dorothy answered; "but it would hurt me
dre'fully to lose you."

"Very well, I won't touch it," decided the kitten; "but you must
keep it away from me, for the smell is very tempting."

"Can you tell us, sir or ma'am," said the Wizard, addressing the
air because he did not quite know where the unseen people stood, "if
there is any way we can get out of your beautiful Valley, and on top
of the Earth again."

"Oh, one can leave the Valley easily enough," answered the man's
voice; "but to do so you must enter a far less pleasant country. As
for reaching the top of the earth, I have never heard that it is
possible to do that, and if you succeeded in getting there you would
probably fall off."

"Oh, no," said Dorothy, "we've been there, and we know."

"The Valley of Voe is certainly a charming place," resumed the
Wizard; "but we cannot be contented in any other land than our own,
for long. Even if we should come to unpleasant places on our way it
is necessary, in order to reach the earth's surface, to keep moving
on toward it."

"In that case," said the man, "it will be best for you to cross
our Valley and mount the spiral staircase inside the Pyramid
Mountain. The top of that mountain is lost in the clouds, and when
you reach it you will be in the awful Land of Naught, where the
Gargoyles live."

"What are Gargoyles?" asked Zeb.

"I do not know, young sir. Our greatest Champion, Overman-Anu,
once climbed the spiral stairway and fought nine days with the
Gargoyles before he could escape them and come back; but he could
never be induced to describe the dreadful creatures, and soon
afterward a bear caught him and ate him up."

The wanders were rather discouraged by this gloomy report, but
Dorothy said with a sigh:

"If the only way to get home is to meet the Gurgles, then we've
got to meet 'em. They can't be worse than the Wicked Witch or the
Nome King."

"But you must remember you had the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman
to help you conquer those enemies," suggested the Wizard. "Just now,
my dear, there is not a single warrior in your company."

"Oh, I guess Zeb could fight if he had to. Couldn't you, Zeb?"
asked the little girl.

"Perhaps; if I had to," answered Zeb, doubtfully.

"And you have the jointed sword that you chopped the veg'table
Sorcerer in two with," the girl said to the little man.

"True," he replied; "and in my satchel are other useful things
to fight with."

"What the Gargoyles most dread is a noise," said the man's
voice. "Our Champion told me that when he shouted his battle-cry the
creatures shuddered and drew back, hesitating to continue the combat.
But they were in great numbers, and the Champion could not shout
much because he had to save his breath for fighting."

"Very good," said the Wizard; "we can all yell better than we
can fight, so we ought to defeat the Gargoyles."

"But tell me," said Dorothy, "how did such a brave Champion
happen to let the bears eat him? And if he was invis'ble, and the
bears invis'ble, who knows that they really ate him up?"

"The Champion had killed eleven bears in his time," returned the
unseen man; "and we know this is true because when any creature is
dead the invisible charm of the dama-fruit ceases to be active, and
the slain one can be plainly seen by all eyes. When the Champion
killed a bear everyone could see it; and when the bears killed the
Champion we all saw several pieces of him scattered about, which of
course disappeared again when the bears devoured them."

They now bade farewell to the kind but unseen people of the
cottage, and after the man had called their attention to a high,
pyramid-shaped mountain on the opposite side of the Valley, and told
them how to travel in order to reach it, they again started upon
their journey.

They followed the course of a broad stream and passed several
more pretty cottages; but of course they saw no one, nor did any one
speak to them. Fruits and flowers grew plentifully all about, and
there were many of the delicious damas that the people of Voe were so
fond of.

About noon they stopped to allow Jim to rest in the shade of a
pretty orchard, and while they plucked and ate some of the cherries
and plums that grew there a soft voice suddenly said to them:

"There are bears near by. Be careful."

The Wizard got out his sword at once, and Zeb grabbed the
horse-whip. Dorothy climbed into the buggy, although Jim had been
unharnessed from it and was grazing some distance away.

The owner of the unseen voice laughed lightly and said:

"You cannot escape the bears that way."

"How can we 'scape?" asked Dorothy, nervously, for an unseen
danger is always the hardest to face.

"You must take to the river," was the reply. "The bears will
not venture upon the water."

"But we would be drowned!" exclaimed the girl.

"Oh, there is no need of that," said the voice, which from its
gentle tones seemed to belong to a young girl. "You are strangers in
the Valley of Voe, and do not seem to know our ways; so I will try to
save you."

The next moment a broad-leaved plant was jerked from the ground
where it grew and held suspended in the air before the Wizard.

"Sir," said the voice, "you must rub these leaves upon the soles
of all your feet, and then you will be able to walk upon the water
without sinking below the surface. It is a secret the bears do not
know, and we people of Voe usually walk upon the water when we
travel, and so escape our enemies."

"Thank you!" cried the Wizard, joyfully, and at once rubbed a
leaf upon the soles of Dorothy's shoes and then upon his own. The
girl took a leaf and rubbed it upon the kitten's paws, and the rest
of the plant was handed to Zeb, who, after applying it to his own
feet, carefully rubbed it upon all four of Jim's hoofs and then upon
the tires of the buggy-wheels. He had nearly finished this last task
when a low growling was suddenly heard and the horse began to jump
around and kick viciously with his heels.

"Quick! To the water or you are lost!" cried their unseen
friend, and without hesitation the Wizard drew the buggy down the
bank and out upon the broad river, for Dorothy was still seated in it
with Eureka in her arms. They did not sink at all, owing to the
virtues of the strange plant they had used, and when the buggy was in
the middle of the stream the Wizard returned to the bank to assist
Zeb and Jim.

The horse was plunging madly about, and two or three deep gashes
appeared upon its flanks, from which the blood flowed freely.

"Run for the river!" shouted the Wizard, and Jim quickly freed
himself from his unseen tormenters by a few vicious kicks and then
obeyed. As soon as he trotted out upon the surface of the river he
found himself safe from pursuit, and Zeb was already running across
the water toward Dorothy.

As the little Wizard turned to follow them he felt a hot breath
against his cheek and heard a low, fierce growl. At once he began
stabbing at the air with his sword, and he knew that he had struck
some substance because when he drew back the blade it was dripping
with blood. The third time that he thrust out the weapon there was a
loud roar and a fall, and suddenly at his feet appeared the form of a
great red bear, which was nearly as big as the horse and much
stronger and fiercer. The beast was quite dead from the sword
thrusts, and after a glance at its terrible claws and sharp teeth the
little man turned in a panic and rushed out upon the water, for other
menacing growls told him more bears were near.

On the river, however, the adventurers seemed to be perfectly
safe. Dorothy and the buggy had floated slowly down stream with the
current of the water, and the others made haste to join her. The
Wizard opened his satchel and got out some sticking-plaster with
which he mended the cuts Jim had received from the claws of the
bears.

"I think we'd better stick to the river, after this," said
Dorothy. "If our unknown friend hadn't warned us, and told us what to
do, we would all be dead by this time."

"That is true," agreed the Wizard, "and as the river seems to be
flowing in the direction of the Pyramid Mountain it will be the
easiest way for us to travel."

Zeb hitched Jim to the buggy again, and the horse trotted along
and drew them rapidly over the smooth water. The kitten was at first
dreadfully afraid of getting wet, but Dorothy let her down and soon
Eureka was frisking along beside the buggy without being scared a
bit. Once a little fish swam too near the surface, and the kitten
grabbed it in her mouth and ate it up as quick as a wink; but Dorothy
cautioned her to be careful what she ate in this valley of
enchantments, and no more fishes were careless enough to swim within
reach.

After a journey of several hours they came to a point where the
river curved, and they found they must cross a mile or so of the
Valley before they came to the Pyramid Mountain. There were few
houses in this part, and few orchards or flowers; so our friends
feared they might encounter more of the savage bears, which they had
learned to dread with all their hearts.

"You'll have to make a dash, Jim," said the Wizard, "and run as
fast as you can go."

"All right," answered the horse; "I'll do my best. But you must
remember I'm old, and my dashing days are past and gone."

All three got into the buggy and Zeb picked up the reins, though
Jim needed no guidance of any sort. The horse was still smarting
from the sharp claws of the invisible bears, and as soon as he was on
land and headed toward the mountain the thought that more of those
fearsome creatures might be near acted as a spur and sent him
galloping along in a way that made Dorothy catch her breath.

Then Zeb, in a spirit of mischief, uttered a growl like that of
the bears, and Jim pricked up his ears and fairly flew. His boney
legs moved so fast they could scarcely be seen, and the Wizard clung
fast to the seat and yelled "Whoa!" at the top of his voice.

"I--I'm 'fraid he's--he's running away!" gasped Dorothy.

"I know he is," said Zeb; "but no bear can catch him if he keeps
up that gait--and the harness or the buggy don't break."

Jim did not make a mile a minute; but almost before they were
aware of it he drew up at the foot of the mountain, so suddenly that
the Wizard and Zeb both sailed over the dashboard and landed in the
soft grass--where they rolled over several times before they stopped.
Dorothy nearly went with them, but she was holding fast to the iron
rail of the seat, and that saved her. She squeezed the kitten,
though, until it screeched; and then the old cab-horse made several
curious sounds that led the little girl to suspect he was laughing at
them all.