Tik-Tok of Oz and Rinkitink of Oz #Ozathon24

I got a little behind with Lory’s group read of the Oz books but here are two more, slightly out of order:

Tik-Tok of Oz (1914). This book starts off in an obscure part of Oz called Oogaboo, where a dissatisfied young woman called Ann Soforth decides to muster an army and go conquer the rest of Oz. Elsewhere, Betsy Bobbin and Hank the mule, wash up from Oklahoma into the Rose Kingdom, a land bordering Ev (see Ozma of Oz) and the Nonestic Ocean, where they meet our old acquaintance, the Shaggy Man, searching for his brother who was captured by the Nome King.

As their journey continues, they encounter Polychrome, the Rainbow’s Daughter, an old favorite of ours, and then rescue Tik-Tok, the mechanical man from a well:

“What have you found, Shaggy One?”

“Either an old friend, or a stranger,” he replied.

“Oh, here’s a sign on his back!” cried Betsy, who had knelt down to examine the man . . . .

“Yes,” said Shaggy, looking at the copper man carefully, “this must be, indeed, my old friend Tik-Tok, whom I left ticking merrily in the Land of Oz. But how he came to this lonely place, and got into that old well, is surely a mystery.”

When our friends run into Queen Ann’s army, she tries to conquer them but Hank the mule sends the soldiers scurrying while Shaggy uses the Love Magnet to his advantage. Then the whole group heads to the underground world of the Nome King. Old Ruggedo is still bitter about being bested by Oz and Dorothy but he isn’t afraid of these strangers. He tricks them into walking into a Hollow Tube, where they plunge fathoms down into the land of Tititi-Hoocho. Fortunately, Tititi-Hoocho decides the Nome King’s reign must end. He returns them back up the Tube with a dragon helper and deposes Ruggedo, replacing him with his steward, Kaliko (who is a nice guy in this book but power corrupts, I suppose). It takes time for Shaggy to find his brother, then Ozma – who has been watching them from her Magic Picture in its (ouch) radium frame – brings Tik-Tok, Shaggy, his brother, Betsy, and the mule to live in Oz. As Dorothy points out, Ozma is “so busy ruling all this Land of Oz,” she needs some additional playmates.

Rinkitink of Oz (1916)

Governed by King Kitticut, Pingaree is a small island nation known for the finest pearls in the world. Once every year, the king sends six boats of pearls to the kingdom of Rinkitink. One day King Rinkitink himself comes to visit, a jolly fellow curious about his neighbors, and is accompanied by his cantankerous talking goal, Bilbil. When raiders from Regos and Coregos attack Pingaree, everyone is captured except young prince Inga, Rinkitink, and Bilbil. Inga is devastated but remembers his father showed him a treasure that saved the kingdom once before, three magical pearls. The blue pearl provides its bearer great strength, the pink pearl protects the owner from all dangers, and the white pearl provides guidance. It takes all Inga’s courage, plus help from the pearls, to rescue his countrymen, and then he needs a little help from Dorothy to free his parents from captivity.

This was one of my favorite Oz books, although the characters do not reach Oz until the final three chapters. I didn’t remember the rotund King Rinkitink and his endless jollity and song (there are worse things, I suppose) but it was resolute Prince Inga who was my favorite. I always remembered how he hid the magical pearls in the toes of his shoes:

Taking off his right shoe he placed the Blue Pearl within it, far up in the pointed toe. Then he tore a piece from his handkerchief and stuffed it into the shoe to hold the pearl in place. Inga’s shoes were long and pointed, as were all the shoes worn in Pingaree, and the points curled upward, so that there was quite a vacant space beyond the place where the boy’s toes reached when the shoe was upon his foot.

I have always thought of Inga whenever I try on or buy shoes with very pointy toes! Baum was often irritated with his illustrator, John R. Neill, but he was delighted with the illustrations for this book. Look at the cover to see Inga’s shoes!