to take her to the Emerald City and see that her cherished dishpan was
restored to her. Then the beautiful Ruler took a chain of emeralds from
around her own neck and placed it around the neck of the little Pink
Bear.

"Your wise answers to the questions of my friends," said she, "helped
them to rescue me. Therefore I am deeply grateful to you and to your
noble King."

The bead eyes of the little Pink Bear stared unresponsive to this praise
until the Big Lavender Bear turned the crank in its side, when it said
in its squeaky voice:

"I thank Your Majesty."

"For my part," returned the Bear King, "I realize that you were well
worth saving, Miss Ozma, and so I am much pleased that we could be of
service to you. By means of my Magic Wand I have been creating exact
images of your Emerald City and your Royal Palace, and I must confess
that they are more attractive than any places I have ever seen--not
excepting Bear Center."

"I would like to entertain you in my palace," returned Ozma, sweetly,
"and you are welcome to return with me and to make me a long visit, if
your bear subjects can spare you from your own kingdom."

"As for that," answered the King, "my kingdom causes me little worry,
and I often find it somewhat tame and uninteresting. Therefore I am in
no hurry to return to it and will be glad to accept your kind
invitation. Corporal Waddle may be trusted to care for my bears in my
absence."

"And you'll bring the little Pink Bear?" asked Dorothy eagerly.

"Of course, my dear; I would not willingly part with him."

They remained in the wicker castle for three days, carefully packing all
the magical things that had been stolen by Ugu and also taking whatever
in the way of magic the shoemaker had inherited from his ancestors.

"For," said Ozma, "I have forbidden any of my subjects except Glinda the
Good and the Wizard of Oz to practice magical arts, because they cannot
be trusted to do good and not harm. Therefore Ugu must never again be
permitted to work magic of any sort."

"Well," remarked Dorothy cheerfully, "a dove can't do much in the way of
magic, anyhow, and I'm going to keep Ugu in the form of a dove until he
reforms and becomes a good and honest shoemaker."

When everything was packed and loaded on the backs of the animals, they
set out for the river, taking a more direct route than that by which
Cayke and the Frogman had come. In this way they avoided the Cities of
Thi and Herku and Bear Cente