ibuted my
share to the comfort of the Oz people by chopping up the trees of the
forest to make firewood, with which the women would cook their meals
while the children warmed themselves about the fires. For my home I had
a little hut by the edge of the forest, and my life was one of much
content until I fell in love with a beautiful Munchkin girl who lived
not far away."

"What was the Munchkin girl's name?" asked Woot.

"Nimmie Amee. This girl, so fair that the sunsets blushed when their
rays fell upon her, lived with a powerful witch who wore silver shoes
and who had made the poor child her slave. Nimmie Amee was obliged to
work from morning till night for the old Witch of the East, scrubbing
and sweeping her hut and cooking her meals and washing her dishes. She
had to cut firewood, too, until I found her one day in the forest and
fell in love with her. After that, I always brought plenty of firewood
to Nimmie Amee and we became very friendly. Finally I asked her to marry
me, and she agreed to do so, but the Witch happened to overhear our
conversation and it made her very angry, for she did not wish her slave
to be taken away from her. The Witch commanded me never to come near
Nimmie Amee again, but I told her I was my own master and would do as I
pleased, not realizing that this was a careless way to speak to a Witch.

"The next day, as I was cutting wood in the forest, the cruel Witch
enchanted my axe, so that it slipped and cut off my right leg."

"How dreadful!" cried Woot the Wanderer.

"Yes, it was a seeming misfortune," agreed the Tin Man, "for a
one-legged woodchopper is of little use in his trade. But I would not
allow the Witch to conquer me so easily. I knew a very skillful mechanic
at the other side of the forest, who was my friend, so I hopped on one
leg to him and asked him to help me. He soon made me a new leg out of
tin and fastened it cleverly to my meat body. It had joints at the knee
and at the ankle and was almost as comfortable as the leg I had lost."

"Your friend must have been a wonderful workman!" exclaimed Woot.

"He was, indeed," admitted the Emperor. "He was a tinsmith by trade and
could make anything out of tin. When I returned to Nimmie Amee, the girl
was delighted and threw her arms around my neck and kissed me, declaring
she was proud of me. The Witch saw the kiss and was more angry than
before. When I went to work in the forest, next day, my axe, being still
enchanted, slipped a