no time in doing this. Fortunately most of the royal
counsellors were in the Emerald City or near to it, so they all met in
the throne room of the palace that same evening.

Chapter Fourteen

Ozma's Counsellors

No Ruler ever had such a queer assortment of advisers as the Princess
Ozma had gathered about her throne. Indeed, in no other country could
such amazing people exist. But Ozma loved them for their peculiarities
and could trust every one of them.

First there was the Tin Woodman. Every bit of him was tin, brightly
polished. All his joints were kept well oiled and moved smoothly. He
carried a gleaming axe to prove he was a woodman, but seldom had cause
to use it because he lived in a magnificent tin castle in the Winkie
Country of Oz and was the Emperor of all the Winkies. The Tin Woodman's
name was Nick Chopper. He had a very good mind, but his heart was not
of much account, so he was very careful to do nothing unkind or to hurt
anyone's feelings.

Another counsellor was Scraps, the Patchwork Girl of Oz, who was made
of a gaudy patchwork quilt, cut into shape and stuffed with cotton.
This Patchwork Girl was very intelligent, but so full of fun and mad
pranks that a lot of more stupid folks thought she must be crazy.
Scraps was jolly under all conditions, however grave they might be, but
her laughter and good spirits were of value in cheering others and in
her seemingly careless remarks much wisdom could often be found.

Then there was the Shaggy Man--shaggy from head to foot, hair and
whiskers, clothes and shoes--but very kind and gentle and one of Ozma's
most loyal supporters.

Tik-Tok was there, a copper man with machinery inside him, so cleverly
constructed that he moved, spoke and thought by three separate
clock-works. Tik-Tok was very reliable because he always did exactly
what he was wound up to do, but his machinery was liable to run down at
times and then he was quite helpless until wound up again.

A different sort of person was Jack Pumpkinhead, one of Ozma's oldest
friends and her companion on many adventures. Jack's body was very
crude and awkward, being formed of limbs of trees of different sizes,
jointed with wooden pegs. But it was a substantial body and not likely
to break or wear out, and when it was dressed the clothes covered much
of its roughness. The head of Jack Pumpkinhead was, as you have
guessed, a ripe pumpkin, with the eyes, nose and mouth carved upon one
side. The pum