bucket had not
been filled with water, as Simon had assumed. It was actually filled
with some fermented sucopinesz juice that a family of wombats had hidden
there for consumption after the parade. The Witch image began to shrink
and fall away. The crowd roared and laughed at the sight. But, of
course, we all know that sucopinesz juice and sugar do not mix well. A
series of tiny explosions began to appear above the melted Witch.
Kabumpo was so startled that he did not see how close he was
getting to the Hungry Tiger. Feeling a heavy elephant's foot
on his striped tail, the Tiger jumped eight hundred yards ahead.
He landed on Princess Saari, breaking a hole in the top of
her float, into which they both fell. From this hole emanated a radiant
green light. The light ricocheted off of the Glass Cat's tail and struck
the gray light that had been circling the Elfland float. Now, it is
commonly known among Oz scholars that a cyclone is created when hot and
cold air meet in one place. It was the same way when the two magical
types of light collided. The dizzying green light splashed at the
other-worldly gray light, and a funnel cloud emerged. It whirled about
until it surrounded the popping mass of sugared juice. When the twister
had subsided, thanks to the magic of Glinda and the Wizard, there stood
a hideous green-faced woman in a black outfit. On her head she wore a
black pointed hat. In her hand was a broomstick.

[Illustration]

"Who's sh-she?" stuttered Dorothy.

"I don't know," replied Ozma. "She looks like a Witch! But not like any
of the Witches I've ever known about!"

"I am the Wicked Witch of the West!" shouted the woman in a maniacal
voice.

"She doesn't look like the one I remember," said the Scarecrow. "This
one has two eyes and green skin. She must be an impostor."

"I am not an impostor!" bellowed the woman.

"But," said an elderly Winkie who remembered the original Witch, "Witch
Allidap had a patch over one eye and did not dress in pure black. This
is not her at all."

"I am too me! I just feel a little different today, that's all. I will
prove to you that I am Allidap!"

[Illustration]

CHAPTER FIVE:

THE BEST LAID PLANS

It should be understood that, although the creature was really little
more than an unstable life-form produced by a one-of-a-kind series of
accidents, she believed that she was indeed the Wicked Witch of the
West. And as long as she suffered under this delusion, she