and looked downcast, as he answered in a low
voice:

"I stole it, your Majesty."

"Oh, Shaggy Man!" cried Dorothy. "How dreadful! And you told me the
Eskimo gave you the Love Magnet."

He shuffled first on one foot and then on the other, much embarrassed.

"I told you a falsehood, Dorothy," he said; "but now, having bathed in
the Truth Pond, I must tell nothing but the truth."

"Why did you steal it?" asked Ozma, gently.

"Because no one loved me, or cared for me," said the shaggy man, "and I
wanted to be loved a great deal. It was owned by a girl in Butterfield
who was loved too much, so that the young men quarreled over her, which
made her unhappy. After I had stolen the Magnet from her, only one
young man continued to love the girl, and she married him and regained
her happiness."

"Are you sorry you stole it?" asked the Princess.

"No, your Highness; I'm glad," he answered; "for it has pleased me to
be loved, and if Dorothy had not cared for me I could not have
accompanied her to this beautiful Land of Oz, or met its kind-hearted
Ruler. Now that I'm here, I hope to remain, and to become one of your
Majesty's most faithful subjects."

"But in Oz we are loved for ourselves alone, and for our kindness to
one another, and for our good deeds," she said.

"I'll give up the Love Magnet," said the shaggy man, eagerly; "Dorothy
shall have it."

"But every one loves Dorothy already," declared the Wizard.

"Then Button-Bright shall have it."

"Don't want it," said the boy, promptly.

"Then I'll give it to the Wizard, for I'm sure the lovely Princess Ozma
does not need it."

"All my people love the Wizard, too," announced the Princess, laughing;
"so we will hang the Love Magnet over the gates of the Emerald City,
that whoever shall enter or leave the gates may be loved and loving."

"That is a good idea," said the shaggy man; "I agree to it most
willingly."

Those assembled now went in to dinner, which you can imagine was a
grand affair; and afterward Ozma asked the Wizard to give them an
exhibition of his magic.

The Wizard took eight tiny white piglets from an inside pocket and set
them on the table. One was dressed like a clown, and performed funny
antics, and the others leaped over the spoons and dishes and ran around
the table like race-horses, and turned hand-springs and were so
sprightly and amusing that they kept the company in one roar of merry
laughter. The Wizard had trained these pets