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

"The Patchwork Girl of Oz"

This he
did in a series of hops, and he moved so swiftly
in this strange manner that those with two legs
had to run to keep up with him.


Chapter Twenty-Two
The Joking Horners

It was not long before they left the passage and
came to a great cave, so high that it must have
reached nearly to the top of the mountain within
which it lay. It was a magnificent cave, illumined
by the soft, invisible light, so that everything
in it could be plainly seen. The walls were of
polished marble, white with veins of delicate
colors running through it, and the roof was arched
and fantastic and beautiful.
Built beneath this vast dome was a pretty
village--not very large, for there seemed not more
than fifty houses altogether--and the dwellings
were of marble and artistically designed. No grass
nor flowers nor trees grew in this cave, so the
yards surrounding the houses carved in designs
both were smooth and bare and had low walls around
them to mark their boundaries.
In the streets and the yards of the houses
were many people all having one leg growing
below their bodies and all hopping here and
there whenever they moved. Even the children
stood firmly upon their single legs and never
lost their balance.


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