ge
platform on which he could build his float. He arranged with Kabumpo,
the Elegant Elephant, to draw the float through the streets, as he
thought it would be too heavy for the Sawhorse. Kabumpo agreed to this
only because he respected Dorothy and because he enjoyed parades. He was
still a tad disgruntled about being used as a work-horse, but he allowed
this feeling to be repressed in favor of the pomp and circumstance of
the parade. He was, after all, a bit of a show-off when he could get
away with it. And that is a real understatement!

Sir Simon the Shrew was able to construct upon the Red Wagon a
magnificent papier mache image that kind of resembled Dorothy. She wore
one shoe, which Simon coated with glue and sprinkled with silver
glitter. He deftly colored her dress blue and white and gave her
two braids in her ribbon hair. He stood back and admired his
masterpiece. "Wow!" said Simon. "This will get a lot of attention!"
But he still had to make the Wicked Witch. This was a harder
prospect, as Simon did not like to create anything that was ugly. To be
sure, there are very few people or things that are uglier than the
Wicked Witch of the West.

[Illustration]

After some time and not less than three failed attempts to construct a
figure of the old Witch, Sir Simon sighed. It was hard to make her look
right. Because of his kind and gentle nature, Simon's images always
wound up looking too friendly. This was not the right image for the
Wicked Witch at all. She had to look mean and hateful. She had to look
like the kind of person who would happily have the Tin Woodman and the
Scarecrow destroyed, or take an innocent little girl as her slave
without remorse. At last, he decided he had to do it with his eyes
closed. This way, he would not be as repulsed by the Witch's cruelty.
Shutting his rodentine eyes, Sir Simon painted the most horrible
face he could. After he opened his eyes to look at his handiwork, he
found himself feeling quite queasy. He had to turn away to avoid being
sick. "Perfect," he muttered. "It looks just like her."

[Illustration]

He then set up the float and hinged the arms of the Dorothy figure in
such a way that she could dump a bucket over the Witch's head. Giving
three cheers for creativity, he had constructed the Witch out of
balloons and covered them with brown sugar. He had then pushed a pin
into the figure to produce a hollow sugar figure that would dissolve
instantly when touched by th