f in my own way--a privilege few wives enjoy. There is no temper
in your new head, so you will not get angry with me. Finally, I shall
take pride in being the wife of the only live Tin Woodman in all the
world!' Which shows that Nimmie Amee was as wise as she was brave and
beautiful."

"I think she was a very nice girl," said Woot the Wanderer. "But, tell
me, please, why were you not killed when you were chopped to pieces?"

"In the Land of Oz," replied the Emperor, "no one can ever be killed. A
man with a wooden leg or a tin leg is still the same man; and, as I
lost parts of my meat body by degrees, I always remained the same
person as in the beginning, even though in the end I was all tin and no
meat."

"I see," said the boy, thoughtfully. "And did you marry Nimmie Amee?"

"No," answered the Tin Woodman, "I did not. She said she still loved
me, but I found that I no longer loved her. My tin body contained no
heart, and without a heart no one can love. So the Wicked Witch
conquered in the end, and when I left the Munchkin Country of Oz, the
poor girl was still the slave of the Witch and had to do her bidding
day and night."

"Where did you go?" asked Woot.

"Well, I first started out to find a heart, so I could love Nimmie Amee
again; but hearts are more scarce than one would think. One day, in a
big forest that was strange to me, my joints suddenly became rusted,
because I had forgotten to oil them. There I stood, unable to move hand
or foot. And there I continued to stand--while days came and
went--until Dorothy and the Scarecrow came along and rescued me. They
oiled my joints and set me free, and I've taken good care never to rust
again."

"Who was this Dorothy?" questioned the Wanderer.

"A little girl who happened to be in a house when it was carried by a
cyclone all the way from Kansas to the Land of Oz. When the house fell,
in the Munchkin Country, it fortunately landed on the Wicked Witch and
smashed her flat. It was a big house, and I think the Witch is under it
yet."

"No," said the Scarecrow, correcting him, "Dorothy says the Witch
turned to dust, and the wind scattered the dust in every direction."

"Well," continued the Tin Woodman, "after meeting the Scarecrow and
Dorothy, I went with them to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz
gave me a heart. But the Wizard's stock of hearts was low, and he gave
me a Kind Heart instead of a Loving Heart, so that I could not love
Nimmie Amee any more th