Mr. Nakai's Illustrations: The Wizard of Oz

Here are Mr. Nakai's fabulous illustrations again!

Enjoy his wonderful works to your hearts' content.
(Click image to enlarge.)

1 Dorothy

2 Cyclone

3 Munchkins

4 Scarecrow in Munchkin

5 The Scarecrow's Problem

6 Tin Woodman

7 Cowardly Lion

8 Yellow Brick Road

9 JUMP!

10 Kalidhas

11 HELP!

12 Keep it up, Lion!

My favorite is #8 Yellow Brick Road. Look at their faces!

Oh, I like #9 too. And #4, #11, #12...and everything! :D

How about you? Which picture is your favorite?

Wonderful parade of "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz"

Here is Mr. Nakai's picture scroll.

Can't you hear their uplifting music? ;D

19 The Imperial Cornet Band

20 Flag Bearers, the Coward Lion and the Hungry tiger 

21Dorothy and Ozma, the Scarecrow and the Saw Horse, and Tik-tok 

22 The Royal Court Band

23 Prof. Woggle-Bug and Students of the Royal College of Athletic Science

24 the Tin Woodman and the Royal Army

25 The Royal Army and Jim

26 Jim, Zeb, and the Wizard

Mr. Nakai's Illustrations #3

Mr. Nakai sent me more illustrations!

Enjoy his beautiful world!

The  Princess of the Vegetable Kingdom

Taking a Short Break

 

Attack by Mangaboos

The Valley of Voices

Fight with the Invisible Bear

Cloud Fairies

The Braided Man

Gargoyles

Wonderful Escape

Dragonettes

Jim and the Saw Horse

Self-righting Dolls

This is the end of the illustrations of "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" I received.

Actually, Mr. Nakai sent me more illustrations. But they have a different theme, so, I'll post them in another entry.　It's coming soon. Don't miss it! ;)

Wonderful Illustrations of Oz Again!

 I've received 6 more pictures of "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" from  Mr. Hatsuo Nakai!

Dorothy and Zeb

Earthquake!

The Glass City

The Sorcerer of Mangaboo

The Wizard of Oz

The  funeral of Gwig

These illustrations make you want to read "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz," don't they? ;D

Wonderful Illustrations of Oz

Do you know of Mr. Hatsuo Nakai? He has been painting fabulous illustrations of Oz for 19 years.

You can see some of his works in "The Baum Bugle," the official journal of International Wizard of Oz Club.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?331027
According to this site linked above, his works appears on "The Baum Bugle, winter 1996."
(You can buy a copy from IWOC's online shop.
http://shop.ozclub.org/product.sc?productId=369&categoryId=7
It says "autumn 1996," not "winter 1996." I don't know why.)

Mr. Nakai told me that he has 72 Oz paintings and sent me six of them to display on my blog.
(I can't thank him enough.)

These are the paintings. Click to enlarge.

I'm sure that all of you who visit this blog can recognize the depicted scenes without any explanations.

Words like "marvelous" and "amazing" do not do them justice; These paintings are just fantastic!

Chapter 21: The Tin-Woodman Plucks a Rose

Glinda's army appears to be trained very well.　It has well-kept weapons and responds swiftly.　The number of soldiers wasn't mentioned, but there seemed to be quite many. They even had a marching band! It was quite different from the army of the Emerald City.

Glinda rode in a palanquin this time, not her favorite swan chariot.　　The palanquin didn't have wheels and was carried by twelve servants.　It must have been so bumpy that Glinda would have become ill with all the movement.　Could that be why she didn't attack the Emerald City when the Wizard of Oz ruled?　

The Gump with the Scarecrow and his friends flew along above her palanquin.　Don't you have an unpleasant feeling when something follows you above your head?　The Scarecrow's party seemed not to care at all, though.　Don't you think that Glinda might have felt it was annoying? Then, perhaps when she saw the Gump flying so smoothly across the sky, she cried out, "That's it!" and got the inspiration for the swan chariot.

I feel sorry that Jellia Jamb was forced to pretend to be Mombi and was threatened with death if she said what was going on behind her. The rule that nobody dies in Oz didn't apply here again.

I admire how shrewd Mombi was. She was old and experienced. Even Glinda couldn't find her.

I didn't know the Tin Woodman had a buttonhole on his body. What a fine job! Look at the Ku-Klip's craftsmanship! I'm just worried that it's hard to rub and starts to rust easily.

The Tin Woodman, who loves flowers, doesn't hesitate to cut one. I don't understand his philosophy yet.

As you remember, white is the color for a witch. In this chapter you can once again see the rule that Glinda's army's tents were red but Glinda's was white. However, the white flag which was used when Jinjur sent a messenger to Glinda didn't have the same meaning as the witch's color, of course. Raising a white flag to signify non-combat seems to be well-known in Oz too.

According to my further research, I found an article stating that a person who carries a white flag is recognized as an authorized non-combat messenger as established in the Laws and Customs of War on Land in 1899.

Chapter 20: The Scarecrow Appeals to Glinda

Each member took what they like from the hoardings in the nest.

I can't help feeling pity to the Jackdaws because they were abruptly intruded upon in their nest, attacked and beaten when they wanted the intruders to go away, moreover, their treasures were stolen which they had been save guarding for a long time.

The Scarecrow and his party were shrewd. They caught something for them even if they are in trouble. But there was one negative point for them: They left Dr. Nikidik's wishing pills in the nest. So, it's break-even, I think. They're useless for the Jackdaws, though.

It's regrettable that they forgot to bring the wishing pills. I wonder why they didn't wish that everyone can get to Glinda's palace safely in the first place. Oh, is it a taboo? Haha.

What would it have happened if they wished that they wanted to get back the throne from Jinjur? Maybe they had to forget the pills in order that the readers should forget these other more plausible possibilities.

Then, they arrived at Glinda's palace. I couldn't find any mention of Glinda's beauty. The author mentioned only the beauty of the garden and the throne.

I'm curious why Glinda's army was trained very well. In this Oz? Why? Who was supposed to be their (imaginary) enemy? Hummm...maybe it was the Wizard of Oz? Glinda mentioned she sent her spies to the Wizard in order to observe him.

Tip seemed to hate and loath Mombi anyhow. He cursed her only. No child knows how dear he is to his parents. (I can't help thinking that Mombi cared for him.)

Then, finally, Glinda and her army set off to the Emelard City. Mombi and Jinjur are going to be in danger! Uh...which side am I with?

By the way, Jack's head can turn horizontally, but not vertically. When he wants to look downward, he has to tilt his body being careful not to drop his head. So...he usually can't see the things lower than his eyes, can he? Since he is quite tall, when he sees Tip, I guess he can see only the top of Tip's head. Of course, if he keeps a distance a little from Tip, he can see Tip well, though.

Chapter19: Dr. Nikidik's Famous Wishing Pills

Although they managed to keep the crows off through the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow's outstanding effort to guard them, the Scarecrow got in serious trouble! All his stuffing was gone. 

His friends found a lot of dollar bills in the nest and stuffed them into the Scarecrow's body instead. Picture the Scarecrow, who is pure, innocent, and non-calculating, with his body full of dollar bills. It's odd, isn't it?

There was a statement that fifty-dollar, one hundred-dollar, and one-thousand dollar bills are stuffed in the Scarecrow's body. Have you ever seen a one thousand dollar bill? I've never even heard of them. I checked on Wikipedia and got the answer immediately.

There were five-hundred, one-thousand, five-thousand, and even ten-thousand dollar bills at one time. They were mainly used for settlements between banks. In 1945, those high-value bills stopped being printed. Following the emergence of the electronic settlement system, the high-value bills lost their necessity, and stopped circulating in 1969.

So, at the time of this book, "The Marvelous Land of Oz," they were a reality! I was really surprised that there were 10,000 dollar bills! But, yes, as there was no online system at that time, banks needed those bills. Imagine how scary it would be if a gust of wind blew away your 10,000 dollar bill. Whoosh!

The "count seventeen by twos" matter was solved by the Saw Horse, not the Scarecrow or the Woggle-bug. A novice happened to look into the problem and solved it easily even though the experts couldn't. That happens in real life too, doesn't it? The Scarecrow said, "You make me quite ashamed of myself," and bowed low to the Saw Horse. I guess he was a little disappointed  but he concealed his feeling and acted politely. How humble he was. Well, could it be the Scarecrow really said it from the heart? If so, it makes me admire him more.

However, I'm always confused when I read this. This solution doesn't make sense. One of my friends gave me an excellent solution. Why didn't they start from 1? 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, right? If you start from 0.5 and count by twos, your next number will be 2.5 then 4.5 and so on.

The Woggle-bug is actually a good guy. He swallowed the wishing pill without hesitation, saying " For I seem to be the only one able and willing to make a wish. Let me have one of the pills," after seeing how much pain Tip was in.It's just that his language is sometimes harsh. He always says more than he needs to. I know he doesn't mean to be mean, but it always makes the situation worse. ;( Yet, I know he isn't a bad person.

Chapter18: In the Jackdaws' Nest

I didn't know what Jackdaw was. It's a kind of crow. They don't live in Japan, or even in the USA. ;D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackdaw

The Gump flew to Europe? Since it took him one night to fly from Oz, Oz must be near Europe, or could the Gump fly that fast?

When I was a child, I thought anything would be happy if it was brought to life. (I wonder if it was the influence of Pinocchio?)　However, the Gump wasn't happy at all. Anyone might feel that way when they find out that their body is not the same as before...rather, he was a complete ragbag. I understand that he would never want to see his original tribe. He must have been a very imposing, respected Gump at that time.

Woggle-bug, not reading the situation here again, is annoying as usual. It may not have been a long time since he was magnified, but he is often sarcastic, to everyone's annoyance. It's a thankless role. He's completely different from Jack.

The whole party fell into a Jackdaw's nest. Since the Gump's wings were broken, he couldn't fly again. If the Jackdaws came back, Jack's pumpkin head would be picked with their beaks, and the Woggle-bug would be a good dessert for the crows.

In such a fearful situation, they found that the bottle of the Powder of Life had a false bottom! And, Dr. Nikidik's wishing pills were in it. How lucky! However, they found that they would have to count seventeen by twos in order to make their wish come true. How can you count seventeen by twos? Up and down. What are they going to do? This scene is a page-turner.

Then, the Jackdaws came back to the nest. They noticed the invaders in their nest and started to attack them!

Chapter17: The Astonishing Flight of the Gump

Well, well, well. Your wait is over. Here's our Gump!

They almost forget to sprinkle the Powder of Life onto Gump's head. Fortunately the Scarecrow pointed out that to bring life to Gump, it had to be sprinkled on his head rather than feet. If they didn't give the head life, it would have been just been a vehicle. Thanks to the Scarecrow's observation, we can meet a new ozzy fellow. :D ( I'm not sure if it was good for the Gump, though.)

The Tin Woodman's work is practical again like his work in the first book "The Wizard of Oz." Ask him to make anything. You can't go wrong. ;D

About the broom which Tip found in the room and insisted to use as a tail, the Tin Woodman said, "I do not see the use of a tail. We are not trying to copy a beast, or a fish, or a bird. All we ask of the Thing is to carry us through the air." This is a very practical artisan's way of thinking, isn't it? When I was a child, I felt the Tin Woodman was mean to Tip. However, now, as a grown-up, I like this practical decision quite well.

Eventually, the broom was used as a tail since there it could act as a rudder.

The Tin Woodman is cool and mature. When he unknowingly committed the greatest crime in the Emerald City, chopping leaves from the royal palm-tree, he wasn't panicked or upset. He calmly said, "It cannot be helped now. But it may be one more reason why it is necessary for us to escape."

The Gump flew away once but came back when Tip commanded. Does it mean the person who brought it to life is its master? Hum, I have to say the Saw Horse is usually stubborn against Tip, and do you remember? The person who brought Jack Pumpkinhead was Mombi! Jack always calls Tip "Father", but if the person who made it is its father, the Gump's father is the Tin Woodman.

Chapter16: The Scarecrow Takes Time to Think

The Scarecrow rationally ruminates about JinJur's words. Who is the proper ruler, the Scarecrow or Jinjur? Thinking deeper, I've realized it's difficult to choose one. But I admire that the Scarecrow can think that way. Even if you are always complaining, it is usual to want to cling to the throne when you have to give it to someone else, isn't it?

He worries that the crown might be too heavy for Jinjur. nevertheless being attacked by Jinjur, he is kind to her.Such kindness will have made Jinjur's mind open to him later, I think.

On the other hand, he is quite cold to Woggle-Bug. When he heard Woggle-Bug was worried about Jinjur's threat, that she'll make a stew of Woggle-Bug, he remarked "I think it was a brilliant idea." Isn't he very mean?

Meanwhile, Woggle-Bug mentioned that he could live for some time on Jack. That's chilly too. Under such a tough situation, people's true personalities show up, don't they?

By the way, why did Woggle-Bug imagine the goats ate small pieces of the Tin Woodman? Metal as food for goats? It must make their stomachs upset.

Well, now I've realized it was important that one dose of the Power of Life remained. The Scarecrow's "smart" brain works brilliantly this time. (Actually, it barely works well ;P)

Jack is pleased to be given his new leg. He is so cute :D

Chapter15: The Prisoners of the Queen

Jinjur's army handled the people of the Emerald City quite well.

In one scene during Jinjur's rule, the men are exhausted by household chores and childcare. The Scarecrow mumbles to himself, wondering how women could do all the chores so easily, while the men were struggling with them. 

While reading that scene several years ago, I was a housewife who was struggling with the chores everyday and thought enthusiastically, "Yes! Household chores and childcare are quite a hard job!" 

Now that I have more experience, I've realized something. Whether you are a man or a woman, it doesn't matter. Regardless of sex, when you try to do a new thing, which you've never done before, you don't understand how to do it and make errors again and again...anyway, you must be entirely weary. If men kept doing household chores and childcare for many years. eventually they would do them very easily.

Gen. Jinjur eats caramels comfortably on the throne. She wasn't upset at all when she saw the Scarecrow's party. Then, as the Army of Revolt had planned, the whole party was captured instantly.

Jinjur declared all members of the party would be destroyed, except Tip. She had promised that she would give Tip back to Mombi. You see, it appears that Mombi cares for Tip. If she doesn't have any affection for Tip, she could just tell Jinjur to kill him. It would be the perfect excuse. She could say to anyone, "It was not my fault." But she didn't allow Jinjur to kill Tip.

Why do you think she didn't kill Tip? Only to use him as a slave?

At the very moment when the Scarecrow's party is about to die, the mice which the Scarecrow has in his clothes save them.They are precious mice of the Queen. I'm relieved that the Army of Revolt was scared by them and ran away. I worried they might smash or squish the mice with brooms or their feet or something.

Jinjur also ran for her life. Though she always spoke boldly with a strong attitude, she is a girl, after all.

Chapter14: Old Mombi indulges in Witchcraft

Ms. Takako Sato's translations are really great. She even translated Woggle-Bug's word play well. In this chapter, Woggle-Bug said to the Saw Horse, who had broken his leg, "Horses are useless if they aren't broken with'breaking bones." (In Japanese, "break bones" means "with great effort.") The original line reads, "For a horse is never much use until he has been broken." 
 However, I can't understand why everyone reacted like that to the Woggle-Bug's next joke, the "horse-and-buggy" thing. Was he being annoying? Or lame? Why? 


 In the next scene, they speak "adult English," don't they? They are very indirect. The Scarecrow doesn't usually talk like this, does he? The Tin Woodman hardly ever threatens anyone with his ax. How out of line was Woggle-Bug? (I'm sad that I can't understand just how badly was acting.) 


 Was the sliver whistle the Tin Woodman uses to call the Queen of the Mice the same one that the Wicked Witch of the West used to call the wolves and ravens? Since the author wrote "a silver whistle," not "the sliver whistle," we can't be sure ...but...personally, I think this is the whistle! The Tin Woodman must have found it in the witch's castle! Don't you think so? 


 Since the Queen talks to the mice in the mouse language, none of the Scarecrow's party can understand what she says. I was surprised that mice had their own language, because I thought there was only one language in Oz. People in Oz can talk with any kind of animals and creatures... except mice? 


 Mombi tried her hardest to stop them from returning to the Emerald City. The part where the 40 roads spin around reminded me of the first scene of the fifth Oz book, "The Road to Oz", which Dorothy was lost between the five roads created by Ozma's witchcraft. Maybe she learn the spell by watching Mombi? 


 Mombi's fire spell scared everyone except the Tin Woodman. In this scene, again, they forget the rule of "Nobody dies in Oz." I wonder when the rule will start. 


 Woggle-Bug was totally surprised by the magic. Didn't Professor Nowitall taught anything about magic? Did he only teach the rules of nature? That's strange for someone who lives in Oz. Perhaps, he's from the outer world (our world). :D 


 Here is a quote from the Scarecrow. "All magic is unnatural, and for that reason is to be feared and avoided." It's true. I've never thought why magic scares us. I guess that makes sense. 


 The Queen of the Mice leads them to the Emerald City safely.

New translation is being released.

There had been only one complete translation of Baum's 14 books into Japanese. It was published by Hayakawa Publishing. Sadly, that version has been out of print for a long time.

At the site Fukkan.com, many people have asked that the whole series be reprinted.
http://www.fukkan.com/fk/ItemComment?i_no=68319797

But Hayakawa didn't react at all (at least, as far as I can see). They didn't even do anything in 2000, which was the 100th anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz". I had almost given up hope that they would re-print the Oz books someday.

However, a miracle happened! Fukkan.com decided to reprint the Oz books. No, actually, they are not reprinting. Instead, they are making new translations of the books with new illustrations.

Honestly, I didn't want to buy them because they are much more expensive than the old version. The old ones were small paperbacks, but the new ones are high quality hardcovers. Since I have been used to the old translations and illustrations, which were great, I didn't think I would need the new versions.

Another miracle happened! I accidentally found the twitter account of one of the translators of the new version. I followed her and she followed me back. It aroused my interest in the new version.

I ordered "the Emerald City of Oz", the 6th book, through Amazon.co.jp. Now I have that one.





Since it is very difficult to get the Hayakawa version, though I still love it very much, I hope this new translation becomes our new standard.

Also, in the new version, "Little Wizard Stories of Oz" are being translated for the first time in Japanese. This is great news too!

Chapter13: A Highly Magnified History

No matter how many times I re-read this chapter, I can't help feeling duped somehow.... 


A magnifying-glass is used for making an object look enlarged, isn't it? At first I imagined something like a loupe, but the object is projected on the screen, so it should be something like a projector. And the projected object was able to run off the screen and stay alive. Let me see. What happened to the original object? Do you have the same question as me?

No, perhaps, it is because I'm judging things by our world's criteria, like a loupe or a projector. Professor Nowitall said "my famous magnifying-glass." It should be something very special. It's in Oz, a fairyland. Maybe it would be something like Doraemon's Gulliver Tunnel;)


Anyway, Woggle-Bug was magnified successfully. We learned here that those bizarre clothes were a gift from the tailor who had his ninth life saved by Woggle-Bug. I see. Hummm...the tailor must have made those clothes from his remnant. It must have been a good chance to clear up his stock, I guess. As you see, that tasteless style....;P

In the previous chapter, though I wrote that the person who should ride on the Saw Horse was the Scarecrow, not Jack, but Jack couldn't walk a long distance because his joints were feeble. I see. His joints has to hold such a big and heavy pumpkin with just tree's barks and branches. Also, his neck doesn't hold his head firmly.

By the way, the Saw Horse has a very bad mouth, doesn't he?

Chapter12: Mr. H.M. Woggle-Bug, T.E.

General Jinjur knew where the Scarecrow went. She predicted that he visited the Tin Woodman and the Tin Woodman joined them. To compete them, she already called Mombi to help her.

Mombi, who accepted the request easily, came to the Emerald City and immediately started to cast her magic on the Scarecrow and his party. The magic worked well and they were led by the nose.

I've found a new thing here! The Tin Woodman has tin eyelids! How meticulous Ku-Klip's work is! Mr. Ku-Klip, you are such a wonderful artisan.

Unfortunately (or could it be because of Mombi's magic?), the Saw Horse broke his leg by stepping into a rabbit hole.

While the party was sitting around and thinking what to do, a weird creature came up to them. Here is our Mr. Woggle Bug! He is very shrewd to already have his name cards, isn't he?

His clothes are also absolutely unique. I didn't know about what a vest of white duck is"Duck" here means thin canvas fabric. .

The result of searching images of "vest duck" on google. 

And knickerbockers of fawn-colored plush. "Plush"? What is plush? Then, I googled it on the Internet. How convenient the Internet is!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plush

It's soft and fluffy , a kind of velvet, and often used for stuffed animal toys.

So...he wears a casual duck vest underneath a formal swallowtail coat with a silk lining. And knickerbockers of plush. His style is really bizarre, isn't it? He even wears a tall silk hat.

Then, the Scarecrow and his party were enthusiastic to listen Woggle-Bug's life story.

Hey, guys! Are you OK with that? You are on the way back to the Emerald city hastily, aren't you? Do you remember you said "Time is precious just now" in the previous chapter and set off in a hurry?

Well, maybe...that's the Oz spirit.


Woggle-Bug's long story was ready to start.

Chapter11: A Nickel-Plated Emperor

This chapter's title is weird, isn't it? Nickle? Tin Woodman is coated by tin, isn't he? Tin isn't nickel. Well, I know his full name is Nick Chopper, though.

How different are tin and nickle?
Here are what I learned from the Internet.
* Both are used to prevent corrosion of metal inside.
* Whiskers can occur on tin plating without a base plating. Nickle plating doen's have them.
* Hardness is different. Tin is a very soft metal and nickle is hard. 

Hey, what am I learning?;p

Back to the story of Oz,
As Nick became an emperor, he learned to use nickle which is harder than tin...can I say it judging from the chapter title? Then, he is not the TIN Woondman, is he? OK, I shouldn't point it out. I knew it.

The Tin Woodman (I'll keep calling him this name) seems to be a suitable ruler. While the Scarecrow was grumbling "Boring, boring," he had grabbed the hearts of the Winkies by his good governance and gained the trust and respect of the Winkies. Meanwhile, he had his castle embellished as he liked and had his body polished, enforcing his rights as emperor. Don't you think he had an air of dignity as a great ruler when he greeted the Scarecrow's party? Did you notice he gave the chancellor clear instructions during his absence?

When I read this part in my childhood, perhaps I didn't like that kind of conceitedness. The Scarecrow was always humble and looked like a good man. However, since I am an adult now, I can understand how difficult being a top leader is. Though the Scarecrow had been always thinking about himself, not about the nation, the Tin Woodman overlooked his land and reigned well. The Tin Woodman is more mature, isn't he?

He also gave the Scarecrow great advice, that he should not renounce the crown, the badge of royalty. Yes, the badge of royalty is very important. Good advice.

Then, the party having obtained a very powerful partner in the Tin Woodman, went back to the Emerald City to regain the capital.

On the way to the Emerald City, the Scarecrow was really down-to-earth and natural as always. Normally, when a king, an attendant and a horse are together, the king should ride the horse, right? Moreover, since the Scarecrow's feet are soft, it must be hard for him to walk.

He let Jack ride on the horse and took care of him not to fall or be hurt. How sweet he was!

Chapter10: The Journey to the Tin Woodman

They entered into Winkie Country.

The Scarecrow enjoyed remembering his former travel with Dorothy to see the places they went through, saying "Here is where we were captured and Dorothy was taken away" or "Here is where Nick Chopper destroyed the wolves."

For the Scarecrow and the readers from the first story, this is a good reminiscence, but, Tip, Jack, and the readers from the second story might think "So what?";P

 It's very hard to follow Jack's very unique way of thinking. 

The Saw Horse was irritated by him.

When Jack dropped his head in the river and it floated down the stream, though Tip picked it up and gave it back to Jack, Jack only worried if his head got damaged by water, and then, the next moment, he worried if his head got damaged by sunshine.

Losing face is a much more serious thing, isn't it?

As I'm a mother of two boys, I'd like him to say, "After being given something back, what you should say first of all is 'Thank you!', not 'Dear me!'":p

For Tip who has a flesh body and needs to sleep, they took a rest through the night.

Chapter9: The Scarecrow Plans an escape

Though Tip, who sneakily ran away from the rebels, explained what was happening to the Scarecrow and Jack, who were playing quoits in the courtyard, His Highness the Scarecrow didn't lose his cool at all.

A ruler who is still relaxing and saying "do as you like" even when his palace is about to be destroyed by the intruding enemy, there might be such a person in real history. The throne, which was handed down to him by his predecessor without any effort his his part, as the Scarecrow said, could be very boring. This would be true especially for a ruler who has no vision for his country.

However, when he noticed that his body was theatened, he couldn't stay cool. The Scarecrow hastily began to plan to run out from his palace.

I like the Scarecrow, but...What could I say about this decision of his? When he heard Tip's "the Saw Horse can't carry four", instantly, he decided to leave his soldier because he was less important. The Soldier, who must know his master very well, replied "I expected this blow";)

Then, the Scarecrow, Jack Pumpkinhead, and Tip on the Saw Horse ran out from the palace fleeing these risks, thinking of sinking or swimming together.

Chapter 8: Gen. Jinjur's Army of Revolt

Well, another of my favorites, Jinjur appears in this chapter at last. I like such a hard-nosed girl for some reason.

She told Tip, who is scared about war, with full confidence, "What man would oppose a girl, or dare to harm her? And there is not an ugly face in my entire Army." Her speech to her army was incendiary. Unfortunately, most of them didn't seem to listen to it:P

The uniform of Jinjur's army was very colorful. It must have boosted the morale of the army. In the real life, I've heard that some girls choose their school because its uniform is cute. All through the ages, in all countries, for girls, clothing is very important, isn't it?

Though the gatekeeper of the Emerald City was great in the previous chapter, he failed here. The Soldier with the Green Whiskers, who appeared after the gatekeeper, also couldn't fight against girls.

It's the same as how a 6-year-old brother can't beat his 2-year-old sister, isn't it? While she can do anything, like grabbing, yanking, or kicking, all her brother can do is protect himself from her attacks.

I didn't know the Soldier with the Green Whiskers was married. In addition, his wife is the master of the house. Well, well, actually, that's the key of a happy couple, isn't it? Umm...he is the kind of person who says "my gun isn't loaded" to the rebels...I can easily imagine how he irritates his wife every day!

After all, "Might is right". How is the Emerald City going to be after Junjur's army has intruded?

That will be shown in the next chapter.