Dorothy's Mystical Adventures in Oz Part 15

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"That's a strange sign," said Dorothy. "Warning you that you're welcome?"

"Well, when you think about it," said the Scarecrow, "travelers are food if caught and tickled. So naturally they welcome you. And they are warning you in advance, which is very nice of them. After all, if you are caught, you may be tickled to death."

"Oh, my," gasped Dorothy. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Well, we have to go on, Dorothy," said the Scarecrow.

"We'll do our best to protect you all," said the tin man.

The Lion gingerly opened the gates and peered in. "Not a soul in sight,"

he said. "Maybe they're all at a convention or something," he added hopefully.

As they walked, everyone felt better. Tickleland was quite pretty, really. Rolling hills of green gra.s.s and clumps of trees here and there.

As they approached some trees, they noticed a well. "Would you like a drink of water, Dorothy?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"Oh yes, please," replied Dorothy. "I'm quite thirsty."

As the tin man lowered the bucket, he began to relax.

"Well," remarked the Scarecrow, "it looks as though we may walk right through Tickleland without seeing one Ticklemonster. Tickleland's not very big, you know. Look, there -- the border's right there." Everyone turned in the direction he was pointing in and, sure enough, the border was about the same distance as they'd traveled so far.

"What a relief," said Dorothy as the Tin Woodman handed her a ladle of water from the well. "Mmmm, this is good," said Dorothy. "So refreshing."

"Surprise!" said a loud voice.

Everyone jumped. They turned to see about twenty Ticklemonsters who quickly surrounded them.

"Are we glad to see you," said one who appeared to be their leader. He was a little taller than the others and was the one who had greeted them so abruptly. "We welcome you to Tickleland," he continued, bending over in a mock bow. "I might add that we are all very hungry, so we doubly welcome you. Grab those two!" he said, pointing to the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow. Six of the Ticklemonsters quickly jumped on them and held their arms and legs.

"Now," said the leader, "let's have us a feast!"

"Oh, no," said the Lion, beginning to laugh uncontrollably. "I won't be able to stand it."

The Ticklemonsters moved quickly with their eight arms as they grabbed the Lion and Dorothy and tickled and tickled.

"Oh, no! Stop, please stop!" shouted Dorothy between peals of laughter.

The Lion could not even plead with them to stop. He was laughing so much that tears were rolling down his cheeks. Their pleas to stop could hardly be heard above their laughter. The Tin Woodman and Scarecrow shouted,

"Tell them to tickle you." "Then they'll stop." "Remember they do the opposite of what they're told."

Dorothy managed to gasp out, "Don't stop tickling me -- tickle me some more." The two Ticklemonsters who were tickling her immediately stopped.

"We won't," they said in a huff, and folded their arms and held their hands up with a stubborn look on their faces. The Lion managed to say the same thing, and his Ticklemonsters stopped, too. With that, the Ticklemonsters abruptly turned and left, muttering to themselves, "Trying to tell us what to do. What nerve!"

After the Ticklemonsters had gone, everyone picked himself up and headed quickly for the border. When they reached it, they all heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness that's over," said the Lion. "It's a good thing we knew about them not liking to be told what to do."

Chapter Fifteen:

Elfland

"Well, what next?" asked Dorothy.

"Let's look at the map," said the Tin Woodman. "Ah, of course, Elfland.

That is the last country shown on the map. The rest says, /largely unexplored/ Maybe the Elves can tell us something of the land beyond their border."

As they entered Elfland, Dorothy remembered the Conciencez and wondered if the Elves were similar.

As if in answer to her question, she felt a tug on her shoelace and heard a little voice squeaking, "Excuse me, but you're standing on my foot."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," exclaimed Dorothy. "I didn't see you," she said, as she bent down to pick the little fellow up. He was about four-and-a-half inches tall and was clothed in a tightly fitted one-piece garment of a brownish color; he had large hands and feet, too large for the size of his body. His legs were thin and spindly, and his large ears were pointed, as was his nose. When Dorothy picked him up, he said, "I was sitting on my friend the rock. We were so deep in conversation that I didn't hear you coming."

"Excuse me," said Dorothy, "but did I hear you correctly? You were sitting on your friend the rock, having a conversation with him?"

The Elf replied, rather tartly, "You mortals are really something.

You're practically deaf, dumb, and blind. In fact, a real deaf or blind mortal probably hears and sees more than a so-called normal one. Most mortals are so caught up with the gaudy sights and loud sounds around them that they do not see or hear the more subtle sights and sounds of nature. A whole words exists of which they are totally unaware."

"Are you saying that rocks are alive?" interceded Dorothy.

The little Elf shook his head in disbelief. "All of creation is alive.

There is no such thing as being /not alive/. If something was dead, it couldn't exist."

"What about a dead animal?" said Dorothy. "Or fish? I had a goldfish that I loved very much and, when he died, I was very sad."

"You shouldn't have been so sad," said the Elf. "All of creation is pulsating vibrant life energy of which the outer forms are constantly undergoing change, but not one tiny atom of that living energy can be destroyed. Ask any of your scientists if this is not true."

"But my goldfish did die," insisted Dorothy. "Any scientist would testify to that."

"Of course," replied the Elf. "However, a scientist's understanding of life energy ends with the physical death of the ent.i.ty under study. The outer appearance of your goldfish would indicate to him that the goldfish had died. But appearances can be deceiving. The scientist knows that the atoms of the goldfish's /dead/ body are still in motion, and will gradually formulate individual chemicals, gases, and minerals as the body decays and returns to the earth. These atoms, you see, will eventually become part of some other living thing, perhaps or a flower or a tree."

"Is that what you mean when you say my goldfish is not really dead?"

asked Dorothy. "That the atoms of its body are still in motion and will become a part of some other living thing?"

"No," replied the Elf. "That's not what I mean, although what you say is true; the atoms of one's body will always be alive somewhere. But these atoms are not any more you than they are a flower or any other thing.

They are just the building blocks....

"Your feelings and your emotions -- your capacity to love, to hate: this is all you. And this personality that is you can never die. It is not dependent on atoms for its existence. It just borrows them to make a garment so that it can function in the physical world, and while in that garment it will interact with other personalities and have the opportunity to learn and to grow through mutual experiences. The degree to which it learns and grows will, of course, depend on the inner desire. That inner desire for advancement is very strong in some -- yet totally nonexistent in others. It is the responsibility of those more advanced to a.s.sist those that are lagging behind, for it is most important that each person's short excursion into the physical-mortal realm not be wasted, for these are precious opportunities indeed."

"That is most interesting," replied Dorothy, "although I'm not sure that I have understood all that you have said."