pt to forget that he is not like other people."

"May I see him?" asked Woot the Wanderer, after a moment's thought.

"If it please you to wait a moment, I will go and ask him," said the
servant, and then he went into the hall where the Tin Woodman sat with
his friend the Scarecrow. Both were glad to learn that a stranger had
arrived at the castle, for this would give them something new to talk
about, so the servant was asked to admit the boy at once.

By the time Woot the Wanderer had passed through the grand
corridors--all lined with ornamental tin--and under stately tin archways
and through the many tin rooms all set with beautiful tin furniture,
his eyes had grown bigger than ever and his whole little body thrilled
with amazement. But, astonished though he was, he was able to make a
polite bow before the throne and to say in a respectful voice: "I salute
your Illustrious Majesty and offer you my humble services."

"Very good!" answered the Tin Woodman in his accustomed cheerful manner.
"Tell me who you are, and whence you come."

"I am known as Woot the Wanderer," answered the boy, "and I have come,
through many travels and by roundabout ways, from my former home in a
far corner of the Gillikin Country of Oz."

"To wander from one's home," remarked the Scarecrow, "is to encounter
dangers and hardships, especially if one is made of meat and bone. Had
you no friends in that corner of the Gillikin Country? Was it not
homelike and comfortable?"

To hear a man stuffed with straw speak, and speak so well, quite
startled Woot, and perhaps he stared a bit rudely at the Scarecrow. But
after a moment he replied:

"I had home and friends, your Honorable Strawness, but they were so
quiet and happy and comfortable that I found them dismally stupid.
Nothing in that corner of Oz interested me, but I believed that in other
parts of the country I would find strange people and see new sights, and
so I set out upon my wandering journey. I have been a wanderer for
nearly a full year, and now my wanderings have brought me to this
splendid castle."

"I suppose," said the Tin Woodman, "that in this year you have seen so
much that you have become very wise."

"No," replied Woot, thoughtfully, "I am not at all wise, I beg to assure
your Majesty. The more I wander the less I find that I know, for in the
Land of Oz much wisdom and many things may be learned."

"To learn is simple. Don't you ask questions?" inquired the Scarecrow.