Once upon a time in America, in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, there was a small house. One good day, actually one bad day, a cyclone uprooted the house form the ground, and after two or three capers in the air, the house started to hover into the sky.
The little Dorothy, seated on the floor with an expression of astonishment, was holding in her arms Toto, the little dog of aunt Emma and uncle Enrico: they must be worried for her!
They had lost, in a flash, both their home and their niece! Dorothy was worried, but she was also curious to see where she was landed: she didn’t know any place except for the endless prairies in Kansas!
After a whole day of flying, the hurricane decided to leave the house in a place of a rare beauty.
The girl quite scared opened the door and saw green flower beds, trees loaded of fruits, birds of thousands colours. Then, she noticed that four weird characters were getting closer to her: they were three men and a woman, all dressed in a very strange way!
“Welcome in the land of the The Munchkins!” said the woman. “We thank you for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East and for having therefore set free our people from the slavery.”
“Witch of the East? Slavery?” repeated perplexed Dorothy. “Excuse me, but I don’t understand what are you talking about!”
“You see”, added the woman “your house has plunged exactly over the Witch of the East and it killed her! The Munchkins will be grateful to you forever for this reason!”
“And you are a Munchkin as well?”
“No, I am a friend of them: I am the Witch of the North!”
“Oh, my God!” exclaimed Dorothy, backing off frightened.
“No, you shouldn’t be afraid of me, my dear” reassured the woman. “You have to know that in the land of Oz there are four Witches: those of the North and the South are the Good ones, while those of the East and the West are the Wicked ones.”
“And who is Oz?” asked Dorothy always more curious.
“Oz is the great Wizard, and is more powerful than all four of us together. He lives in the Emerald City that is exactly in the centre of the Realm.”
“Therefore, if I go to the Wizard maybe he could find the way to send me back to Kansas!” said hopefully the girl.
“I suggest you not to undertake such a long path” answered the fairy. “In order to get to the Emerald City, you should pass through a thousands of hazards! Anyway, I can’t stop you, if this is your wish. If you allow me, now I will give you a kiss on your forehead: no one will dare to hurt who has been kissed by the Witch of the North! Be careful, follow the path made of yellow bricks and…take these, these are silver shoes of the Wicked dead Witch. Certainly they have some magic power, but unfortunately no one has ever found it out!”
Dorothy thanked everyone from her heart, she put on the slippers (they fit perfectly!) and, before facing the journey, she went back to her home. She wore her muslin dress with little white and sky-blue squares and she wore a pink sunbonnet; finally, she took a hamper and she filled it with all the bread that she found into the kitchen cabinet.
Well, now Dorothy and Toto were ready to leave! The inhabitants of that enchanted land looked out of the window and went out from their houses in order to greet their rescuer. “Look” was exclaiming the crowd. “She wears a dress with little white and sky-blue squares: white is the colour of the fairies and sky-blue is the national colour of the Munchkins. We knew that she is a Good Fairy!”
Dorothy let them talking: she perfectly knew that she was a very normal girl that has been dragged there by a cyclone!
After a long walking, the path made of bricks seemed endless. Dorothy decided to stop and rest near a big field of grain.
All at once, a Scarecrow pulled on a timber, seemed to smile and eyewink at her and he captured all her attention!
“Hi” said the Scarecrow. “Could you please pull me down from the timber? We could talk better!”
Dorothy obeyed immediately.
“Where are you going?” asked the Scarecrow.
“I would like so much to reach the Emerald City, in order to beg for mercy to the mighty Wizard of Oz, to send me back to Kansas, answered the girl.
“If this wizard is mighty as you say, do you think that he could give me a little brain? My head is full of straw, and I am tired to be a stupid!”
Dorothy burst into laughter. “I don’t know what to say, my friend, but I will be happy if you want to be my partner for the journey!”
And so Dorothy, Toto, and the Scarecrow, started their journey.
A few hours later, the path started to become bitter and the poor Scarecrow stumbled more than once into the yellow bricks.
Finally in the evening, they reached an abandoned hut made of stumps and branches: Dorothy threw herself on the little bed made of leaves and she fell asleep deeply until the day after. The scarecrow, being a puppet didn’t need to sleep, so he was standing in a corner of the room, watching over his little friend. The day after, they were going to start back their journey, when they heard a plaint. Dorothy run to see and noticed, not that distant, a man made completely of tin.
“Oh, thank goodness that someone has heard me!” sighed the man. “Please, come back to my hut, bring the grease gun and grease my joints!”
Yes, the little man was all oxidized and he was stuck with the axe lifted up in the air, he stuck while he was cutting a trunk. Dorothy decided to help the tin woodsman, who became as new very soon.
“Oh, friends, I don’t know how to thank you” he said. “You have to know that, a long time ago, I was a man in flesh and blood. But the wicked Witch of the East transformed me in a tin man, so that I could not marry the Munchkin that I loved. But now tell me about you: where are you going?”
Dorothy explained the story to the new friend.
“Oh, I’ll come with you”, declared the woodsman with enthusiasm. “I will beg the Wizard to give me back my heart…a real heart!”
The group of friends set off again and soon after they met a lion that wanted to join them.
“You have to know” he said “I am a Coward Lion: I am afraid of everything, I can’t scare, not even a fly. What King of the Forest could I ever be? I would come to meet the Wizard as well, and I would beg him to give me some courage!”
Since that moment, the group of voyagers had to pass through thousands of dangers and difficulties, before arriving to the Emerald City: the tin man had to build a raft in order to cross the river, the Lion had to overcome his fear in order to carry his friends over a ravine…very slowly, anyway, the path become easier. But where have disappeared the yellow bricks? Our friends found themselves in a Poppy Field. The strong perfumes of those flowers let Dorothy fall asleep, and she fell down on the grass with Toto in her arms, the dog was completely strength less too. The Scarecrow and the woodsman, who weren’t made of flesh and blood, were insensible to the deadly perfume of the flowers and they were scared in seeing their friend fainted on the ground.
“Run away”, they said to the Lion “otherwise you will fall asleep as well! We will meet back in the pretty spot, out from the Poppy Field!”
The Lion went away and the Scarecrow and the woodsman made a chair with their hands and they carried Dorothy and Toto in a pretty spot not far away.
Dorothy and Toto, felt better quickly and the group could take back the journey. They found back the path made of yellow bricks and finally they reached the Emerald City! Buildings made of emeralds-studded green marble, bordered the streets. Everything seemed to be green in that city: even the skin colour of the people was lime green! The guardian of the City welcomed the group and took it to the Palace of the Wizard. The soldier that was on guard at the main entrance went to advise the Wizard about the arrival of those five weird characters. The Wizard was used to talk to people hidden behind a screening. Strangely the Wizard accepted to see them, but he said that he would have received only one person per day. And so our friends were taken into the rooms of the Palace, where they could rest after their long travel. The day after, a little waitress dressed in green, gave to Dorothy a nice dress of a bottle green. Well, now you are ready to present yourself to the Mighty Wizard!
“You’ve been lucky”, said the waitress. “The wizard never accepts visitors, but someone told him that you wear a pair of silver slippers …and so he changed his mind and now he wants to see you and your friends as well!”
Dorothy, a bit scared, opened the door of the salon and found herself in a round room with a vaulting sealing shining of gems. In the middle of the room there was a large green marble throne and, placed on it, there was a huge bold head with eyes, nose, mouth much bigger than the ones of a giant!
All at once, a voice interrupted the silence: “I am the wizard of Oz, the terrible wizard of Oz. Who are you and what do you want from me?”
Dorothy with courage told her story: she talked about the cyclone that has dragged her into the land of the Munchkins, about the death of the Witch of the East and about the journey to get up to him.
“My only desire is to go back to Kansas and live again with my uncle Enrico and my aunt Emma” said the girl finally. “I know that you are very mighty: can you help me?”
“I don’t do nothing for nothing! If you really want to go back to Kansas, you will have to kill the Witch of the West!” answered the Wizard.
“But I have never killed anyone!” claimed the girl. “My house has fallen on the Witch of the East and killed her!”
“I don’t care”, continued the Wizard.
“Listen to me carefully: if you don’t want to obey, I suggest you to not come here again!”
The following days, it was the turn of the Scarecrow, the Woodsman and the Lion to make their requests. And for all of them the answer was only one: “I will realize your wishes if you help your friend to kill the Witch of the West.”
Imagine the astonishment of our friends! The wizard, moreover, in order to create much more confusion in the minds of their guests, has presented himself to each of them disguised in a different way! To the Scarecrow he appeared as a beautiful woman with green curls, to the Woodsman he appeared as a fierce beast, similar to a rhino with five eyes: finally, the Lion has found himself in front of a blazing talking ball!
“We are in a real mess”, said Dorothy.
“Yes” said the woodsman. “But if we stay together we could overcome all the difficulties! Friends, when are we leaving?”
“Tomorrow, tomorrow! Answered the others together.
And so, the next day, the company left the Palace of the Wizard of Oz and went towards the West where, logically, it should be the land of the Winkies. With no doubt the Witch was living there! But let’s talk about the Witch…the Wicked, also if she had just one eye, she managed to notice them from far away and to imprisone them. But luck was still on the side of our friends! One day, Dorothy, in order to rebel to the abuses, threw a pail full of water against the Witch…and in a few seconds she dissolved as an ice-cube under the sun! The yellow Winkies celebrated their rescuer: finally they were free people again! Dorothy received as a gift a magic hat. That hat has been of the Witch before: the Winged Monkeys, if called, would have come to help the owner of the hat, for three times.
“Thanks friends” said the girl. “We would like to be with you, but tomorrow we have to leave in order to go back to the Emerald City.”
The Winkies saddened, especially because they were really fond of the Tin woodsman, but they promptly suggested Dorothy to call the Winged Monkeys for help. The girl said the magic formula written inside the hat…and suddenly a mass of Winged Monkeys appeared in the sky, directed towards her. Dorothy quickly explained them what was the problem, and the obliging monkeys carried in a flash our friends up to the Emerald City, exactly in front of the palace of the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy spoke with the guardians and explained that she had some urgent news for the Wizard…and the Wizard was obliged to receive the group in the usual salon, being this time visible to them.
“What do you want again from me?” he asked.
“We have killed the Witch of the West and we are here to ask you to keep your promises!” answered promptly the girl.
“Right” said very thoughtful the Wizard of Oz “But now I really need to think. Come on, get out, and leave me alone.”
“We don’t want to wait one minute longer!” answered annoyed the Scarecrow.
The Lion, to scare the Wizard, made a loud roar…but he scared to death Toto, who bumped and fell upon the screening that was in a corner of the room.
Oh, my god, what a surprise! The screening was hiding such a very small, bold and wrinkled man, with a very inoffensive appearance!
“And you are the mighty Wizard?” asked Dorothy in a whisper.
“This means that you screwed us!” shouted the woodsman.
“Be calm!” said the little man, “Please, try to keep the secret. People believe that I am a real Wizard, and you know why? Just because, many years ago, I landed in this country with a hot-air balloon! People, watching me arriving from the sky, thought that I was a Wizard with great powers. And my friends, why shouldn’t I go along with that game? But now, I am tired of being confined here in this castle, also if I am served and revered. Now, thanks to you, the Witches don’t exist anymore…and I have nothing to fear!”
“Yes, but the promises you’ve made to us” asked Dorothy.
“Uh, sure! Let’s see what can I do…”
Idea! In order to make happy the Scarecrow, the Wizard removed his head, he took away all the straw and he filled it with a mixture of bran, needles and pins.
“Well” said finally “now you will be very intelligent because I gave you a huge amount of brain!”
It was the turn of the woodsman: Oz took from a big drawer a nice silver heart full of sawdust and he placed it on the woodsman’s chest so well that the sewing was invisible.
The Lion came forward impatient. “Yes, sure” said the Wizard “now it’s your turn.”
He took a squared bottle and he poured its content into a small plate. “Drink” he said to the Lion. “The courage is inside, therefore, as soon as you drink all of it, you will be the bravest among all the animals”
Well! Now they were all happy…or almost! The Wizard of Oz didn’t know at all how to help Dorothy to go back to Kansas.
“But sure!” he exclaimed all at once. “The safest way to go across the desert, is to fly over it with a hot-air balloon!”
In a few days, the Wizard finished his work.
But, at the moment of the test, the ropes that kept the balloon fixed on the ground, broke and the Wizard of Oz flew in the sky without our friend Dorothy.
“I am sorry, friends” greeted the little man.
“Bye bye!”
Since that day, no one has ever seen the Wizard again, but everyone has always remembered him with affection.
Dorothy, anyway, didn’t loose her hopes to go back home.
“Why don’t you ask the help of the Winged Monkeys?” said one day the Scarecrow with his new brilliant intelligence.
The girl rushed to take the hat; she said the magic formula and one minute later the monkeys appeared!
“What do you need?” asked the King
“Oh, please, let me cross the desert! Only in this way I could, maybe, get back to Kansas!”
“I am sorry”, answered the monkey but we can’t cross the desert, is too far away for us. But if you want, we can take you to Glinda, the Fairy of the South that governs the land of the Quadlings. Her castle is placed at the boundaries of the desert: you will see, she would suggest you a way to cross the desert.”
The girl agreed happy and joyful to the proposal and she was carried with her friends up to the Castle of Glinda. The fairy was so young and beautiful! Dorothy told her all in once her story and the fairy answered: “I will help you. I only need your magic hat in order to call three times the Winged Monkeys.”
Then, she addressed the Scarecrow: “What will you do when Dorothy would be gone?”
“Oh” answered the Scarecrow. “I would be happy to go back to the Emerald City!”
“Well” said Glinda. “You will be satisfied. And you two?” she continued addressing the woodsman and the lion.
“I would like to go back in the land of the West and live with the Winkies”, answered the first.
“Instead, I would like to go back to the forest”, said the second.
“Ok” smiled the Fairy. “And now, Dorothy, it’s your turn: didn’t you know that your shoes have a magic power?”
“No, I didn’t know”, answered the girl.
“Yes, they can carry who wears them in any part of the world with only three steps! You have to beat the heels together three times and order to the shoes to take you to Kansas.”
Dorothy kissed the Fairy and she thanked her thousand times: then, she hugged tight her dear friends that she was going to leave…and go!
After a while she found herself seated with Toto in front of the new farm built by uncle Enrico after the cyclone.
She was finally back to the prairies in Kansas, she would have hugged aunt Emma and uncle Enrico again and told them about the great adventures that she lived into the Wizard of Oz!