ndow in
Ozma's palace a few hours ago! And I know I haven't made any progress
hardly at all!"

"I'm afraid it's you who are wrong," replied the voice. "Ozma's palace
is a long, long journey from here. Ah, here you are!"

A burst of sudden fire appeared out of nowhere; it burned away a number
of the weeds, and Graham saw a clear tunnel through the weeds to open
air. In addition to that, however, he saw the most unusual creature he
had ever seen ... It was not very large, but it looked as if it were
composed of several different-sized squares and rectangles. All straight
edges, nothing rounded. It had thick, leathery skin, and three
glistening hairs grew from the tip of its rectangular tail. The creature
spoke: "Now that I have a face to go along with the voice, I can see
that you are a stranger in these parts. Allow me to introduce myself. I
am he who is called the Woozy. To the best of my knowledge, I am the
only Woozy in the world, so I've never had need of any other particular
name. Happy to meet you, Graham. I hope that you are a nice fellow, and
not some meany who will say Krizzle-Kroo to me."

"N-no," stuttered Graham. "I wouldn't say a thing like that, I'm sure.
But--I have just climbed out a window of Ozma's palace. I couldn't
possibly be as far from there as you say!"

"Yes, you are," replied the Woozy. "You must be mistaken about the
window."

"But Ozma was there! And the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman, and the
Patchwork Girl, and Tik-Tok, and ... and everyone!"

"I'm sorry, my friend Graham," said the Woozy. "There is no palace here.
The only building here that I know of is that one that was built by the
old Wicked Witch of the West. The Winkies say that she used to have a
bunch of winding corridors in there that were meant to drive her slaves
nuts if they ever were sent there as a punishment."

"But how did I get there from the Emerald City? Ozma was really mean to
me, so I locked myself away in a room there."

"Ozma was mean to you?" the Woozy said with obvious shock. "Are you a
villain?"

Graham quickly related the whole story to the Woozy, who seemed to be
the only friend (however unfamiliar) he had had around him in an awfully
long time.

"My," replied the Woozy. "That is quite a story. But I fear you were
duped, my friend."

"Duped?" echoed he.

"I think you were never in the Emerald City. Somehow, the Witch sent you
here and created a very elaborate hallucination for you. She uses these