m willing to become a slave with the rest of you; so all we can do
with the Magic Belt is to use it to send Uncle Henry and Aunt Em back
to Kansas."

"I've been a slave all my life," Aunt Em replied, with considerable
cheerfulness, "and so has Henry. I guess we won't go back to Kansas,
anyway. I'd rather take my chances with the rest of you."

Ozma smiled upon them all gratefully.

"There is no need to despair just yet," she said. "I'll get up early
to-morrow morning and be at the Forbidden Fountain when the fierce
warriors break through the crust of the earth. I will speak to them
pleasantly and perhaps they won't be so very bad, after all."

"Why do they call it the Forbidden Fountain?" asked Dorothy,
thoughtfully.

"Don't you know, dear?" returned Ozma, surprised.

"No," said Dorothy. "Of course I've seen the fountain in the palace
grounds, ever since I first came to Oz; and I've read the sign which
says: 'All Persons are Forbidden to Drink at this Fountain.' But I
never knew WHY they were forbidden. The water seems clear and
sparkling and it bubbles up in a golden basin all the time."

"That water," declared Ozma, gravely, "is the most dangerous thing in
all the Land of Oz. It is the Water of Oblivion."

"What does that mean?" asked Dorothy.

"Whoever drinks at the Forbidden Fountain at once forgets everything he
has ever known," Ozma asserted.

"It wouldn't be a bad way to forget our troubles," suggested Uncle
Henry.

"That is true; but you would forget everything else, and become as
ignorant as a baby," returned Ozma.

"Does it make one crazy?" asked Dorothy.

"No; it only makes one forget," replied the girl Ruler. "It is said
that once--long, long ago--a wicked King ruled Oz, and made himself and
all his people very miserable and unhappy. So Glinda, the Good
Sorceress, placed this fountain here, and the King drank of its water
and forgot all his wickedness. His mind became innocent and vacant,
and when he learned the things of life again they were all good things.
But the people remembered how wicked their King had been, and were
still afraid of him. Therefore, he made them all drink of the Water of
Oblivion and forget everything they had known, so that they became as
simple and innocent as their King. After that, they all grew wise
together, and their wisdom was good, so that peace and happiness
reigned in the land. But for fear some one might drink of the water
again, and in an in