Holding
fast to one another they all followed in a row,
expecting every minute to bump against the iron
bars. The Shaggy Man also had his eyes closed, but
marched straight ahead, nevertheless, and after
he had taken one hundred steps, by actual count,
he stopped and said:
"Now you may open your eyes."
They did so, and to their astonishment found
the wall and the gateway far behind them,
while in front the former Blue Country of the
Munchkins had given way to green fields, with
pretty farm-houses scattered among them.
"That wall," explained the Shaggy Man, "is
what is called an optical illusion. It is quite real
while you have your eyes open, but if you are
not looking at it the barrier doesn't exist at all.
It's the same way with many other evils in life;
they seem to exist, and yet it's all seeming and
not true. You will notice that the wall--or what
we thought was a wall--separates the Munchkin
Country from the green country that surrounds
the Emerald City, which lies exactly in the
center of Oz. There are two roads of yellow
bricks through the Munchkin Country, but the
one we followed is the best of the two. Dorothy
once traveled the other way, and met with more
dangers than we did.
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