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Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank), 1856-1919

"The Patchwork Girl of Oz"

He had but one leg, set just
below the middle of his round, fat body; but it
was a stout leg and had a broad, flat foot at the
bottom of it, on which the man seemed to stand
very well. He had never had but this one leg,
which looked something like a pedestal, and when
Toto ran up and made a grab at the man's ankle he
hopped first one way and then another in a very
active manner, looking so frightened that Scraps
laughed aloud.
Toto was usually a well behaved dog, but this
time he was angry and snapped at the man's leg
again and again. This filled the poor fellow with
fear, and in hopping out of Toto's reach he
suddenly lost his balance and tumbled heel over
head upon the floor. When he sat up he kicked Toto
on the nose and made the dog howl angrily, but
Dorothy now ran forward and caught Toto's collar,
holding him back.
"Do you surrender?" she asked the man.
"Who? Me?" asked the Hopper.
"Yes; you," said the little girl.
"Am I captured?" he inquired.
"Of course. My dog has captured you," she said.
"Well," replied the man, "if I'm captured I must
surrender, for it's the proper thing to do. I like
to do everything proper, for it saves one a lot of
trouble."
"It does, indeed," said Dorothy.


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