it
all, and when I come into the house the conversation of your fat wife
and of yourself bores me dreadfully."

"That is because I gave you different brains from those we ourselves
possess--and much too good for a cat," returned Dr. Pipt.

"Can't you take 'em out, then, and replace 'em with pebbles, so that I
won't feel above my station in life?" asked the cat, pleadingly.

"Perhaps so. I'll try it, after I've brought the Patchwork Girl to
life," he said.

The cat walked up to the bench on which the Patchwork Girl reclined and
looked at her attentively.

"Are you going to make that dreadful thing live?" she asked.

The Magician nodded.

"It is intended to be my wife's servant maid," he said. "When she is
alive she will do all our work and mind the house. But you are not to
order her around, Bungle, as you do us. You must treat the Patchwork
Girl respectfully."

"I won't. I couldn't respect such a bundle of scraps under any
circumstances."

"If you don't, there will be more scraps than you will like," cried
Margolotte, angrily.

"Why didn't you make her pretty to look at?" asked the cat. "You made
me pretty--very pretty, indeed--and I love to watch my pink brains roll
around when they're working, and to see my precious red heart beat."
She went to a long mirror, as she said this, and stood before it,
looking at herself with an air of much pride. "But that poor patched
thing will hate herself, when she's once alive," continued the cat. "If
I were you I'd use her for a mop, and make another servant that is
prettier."

"You have a perverted taste," snapped Margolotte, much annoyed at this
frank criticism. "I think the Patchwork Girl is beautiful, considering
what she's made of. Even the rainbow hasn't as many colors, and you
must admit that the rainbow is a pretty thing."

The Glass Cat yawned and stretched herself upon the floor.

"Have your own way," she said. "I'm sorry for the Patchwork Girl,
that's all."

Ojo and Unc Nunkie slept that night in the Magician's house, and the
boy was glad to stay because he was anxious to see the Patchwork Girl
brought to life. The Glass Cat was also a wonderful creature to little
Ojo, who had never seen or known anything of magic before, although he
had lived in the Fairyland of Oz ever since he was born. Back there in
the woods nothing unusual ever happened. Unc Nunkie, who might have
been King of the Munchkins, had not his people united with all the
other countries