iddle-tiddle-tiddle oom pom-pom!
Oom, pom-pom--pah!

"What is it, a band or a mouth-organ?" asked Dorothy.

"Don't know," said Button-Bright.

"Sounds to me like a played-out phonograph," said the shaggy man,
lifting his enormous ears to listen.

"Oh, there just COULDN'T be a funnygraf in Fairyland!" cried Dorothy.

"It's rather pretty, isn't it?" asked Polychrome, trying to dance to
the strains.

Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom,
Oom pom-pom; oom pom-pom!

came the music to their ears, more distinctly as they drew nearer the
house. Presently, they saw a little fat man sitting on a bench before
the door. He wore a red, braided jacket that reached to his waist, a
blue waistcoat, and white trousers with gold stripes down the sides.
On his bald head was perched a little, round, red cap held in place by
a rubber elastic underneath his chin. His face was round, his eyes a
faded blue, and he wore white cotton gloves. The man leaned on a stout
gold-headed cane, bending forward on his seat to watch his visitors
approach.

Singularly enough, the musical sounds they had heard seemed to come
from the inside of the fat man himself; for he was playing no
instrument nor was any to be seen near him.

They came up and stood in a row, staring at him, and he stared back
while the queer sounds came from him as before:

Tiddle-iddle-iddle, oom pom-pom,
Oom, pom-pom; oom pom-pom!
Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom,
Oom, pom-pom--pah!

"Why, he's a reg'lar musicker!" said Button-Bright.

"What's a musicker?" asked Dorothy.

"Him!" said the boy.

Hearing this, the fat man sat up a little stiffer than before, as if he
had received a compliment, and still came the sounds:

Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom,
Oom pom-pom, oom--

"Stop it!" cried the shaggy man, earnestly. "Stop that dreadful noise."

The fat man looked at him sadly and began his reply. When he spoke the
music changed and the words seemed to accompany the notes. He said--or
rather sang:

It isn't a noise that you hear,
But Music, harmonic and clear.
My breath makes me play
Like an organ, all day--
That bass note is in my left ear.

"How funny!" exclaimed Dorothy; "he says his breath makes the music."

"That's all nonsense," declared the shaggy man; but now the music began
again, and they all listened carefully.

My lungs are full of reeds like those
In organs, therefore I sup