It was a big house, round, as were all the Munchkin houses, and painted
blue, which is the distinctive color of the Munchkin Country of Oz.
There was a pretty garden around the house, where blue trees and blue
flowers grew in abundance and in one place were beds of blue cabbages,
blue carrots and blue lettuce, all of which were delicious to eat. In
Dr. Pipt's garden grew bun-trees, cake-trees, cream-puff bushes, blue
buttercups which yielded excellent blue butter and a row of
chocolate-caramel plants. Paths of blue gravel divided the vegetable and
flower beds and a wider path led up to the front door. The place was in
a clearing on the mountain, but a little way off was the grim forest,
which completely surrounded it.

Unc knocked at the door of the house and a chubby, pleasant-faced woman,
dressed all in blue, opened it and greeted the visitors with a smile.

"Ah," said Ojo; "you must be Dame Margolotte, the good wife of Dr.
Pipt."

"I am, my dear, and all strangers are welcome to my home."

"May we see the famous Magician, Madam?"

"He is very busy just now," she said, shaking her head doubtfully. "But
come in and let me give you something to eat, for you must have traveled
far in order to get to our lonely place."

"We have," replied Ojo, as he and Unc entered the house. "We have come
from a far lonelier place than this."

"A lonelier place! And in the Munchkin Country?" she exclaimed. "Then it
must be somewhere in the Blue Forest."

"It is, good Dame Margolotte."

"Dear me!" she said, looking at the man, "you must be Unc Nunkie, known
as the Silent One." Then she looked at the boy. "And you must be Ojo the
Unlucky," she added.

"Yes," said Unc.

"I never knew I was called the Unlucky," said Ojo, soberly; "but it is
really a good name for me."

"Well," remarked the woman, as she bustled around the room and set the
table and brought food from the cupboard, "you were unlucky to live all
alone in that dismal forest, which is much worse than the forest around
here; but perhaps your luck will change, now you are away from it. If,
during your travels, you can manage to lose that 'Un' at the beginning
of your name 'Unlucky,' you will then become Ojo the Lucky, which will
be a great improvement."

"How can I lose that 'Un,' Dame Margolotte?"

"I do not know how, but you must keep the matter in mind and perhaps the
chance will come to you," she replied.

Ojo had never eaten such a fine meal in all his life