<h2 id="c6"><span class="smaller">Chapter 6</span> <br/>Ruggedo’s History In Six Rocks</h2>
<p>On the same night that Prince Pompa and Kabumpo
had disappeared from Pumperdink, a little
gray gnome crouched in a deep chamber, tunneled
under the Emerald City, laboriously carving letters on
a big rock. It was Ruggedo, the old Gnome King,
carving and grumbling and grumbling and carving,
and pausing every few minutes to light his pipe with
a hot coal which he kept in his pocket for that purpose.
A big emerald lamp cast a green glow over the
strange cavern and made the gnome look like a bad
green goblin, which he was.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</div>
<p>“Wag!” screamed the gnome, suddenly throwing
down his chisel. “Where are you, you long-eared villain?”
There was a slight stir at the back of the cave
and a rabbit, of about the same size as the gnome, shuffled
slowly forward.</p>
<p>“What you want?” he asked, rubbing one eye with
his paw.</p>
<p>“Bring me a cup of melted mud, idiot!” roared the
gnome, pounding on the rock. “And serve it to me
on my throne at once!”</p>
<p>“Now, see here,” the rabbit twitched his nose rapidly,
“I’ll get you a cup of melted mud, but don’t you
call me an idiot. I don’t mind working for one, nor
digging for one and listening to his foolishness, but
nobody can call me an idiot—not even a make-believe
King!”</p>
<p>“Oh, you make me tired!” fumed the gnome.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</div>
<p>“Then go to sleep,” advised the rabbit with a yawn.
“What’s the use of trying to pretend you’re a King,
Rug? Ho, ho! King over one wooden doll, six rocks
and twenty-seven sofa cushions! You may have been
a King once, but now you’re just a plain gnome and
nothing else, and if you go and sit quietly in your plain
rocking chair I’ll bring you a cup of plain mud.”</p>
<p>With a chuckle, the rabbit retired, and Ruggedo,
spluttering with fury, flounced into a doll’s broken
rocker that was set in the exact center of the cave.</p>
<p>“Here I give that rabbit everything I steal and he
won’t even allow me the little luxury of calling him an
idiot or of pulling his ears. How can I pretend to be
a King without an ear to pull?” grumbled the gnome.</p>
<p>“What are you grinning at?” Bouncing out of his
chair, Ruggedo flew at a merry-faced wooden doll who
sat propped up against the wall and shook her till her
head turned round backwards and her arms and legs
flew every which way. Then he hurled her violently
into a corner. Quite out of breath he sank back in his
chair and stared angrily about.</p>
<p>When Wag returned the gnome snatched the tin cup
of melted mud and tossed it down with one gulp. Then,
flinging the cup at the doll, he went back to work.</p>
<p>The rabbit shook his head mournfully and, picking
up the wooden doll, straightened her out and placed
her on a cushion. Then, yawning again, he lit a candle
and started for the passage at the back of the cave.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</div>
<p>“How are you getting on?” he asked, pausing to
look over the gnome’s shoulder with a grin.</p>
<p>“Fine!” answered Ruggedo, forgetting to scowl.
“I’m up to the sixth rock and expect to finish to-night.”</p>
<p>“Who do you think will read it?” asked the rabbit,
putting back both ears and stroking his whiskers.
Then he gave a great spring, just escaped the chisel
Ruggedo had flung at his head, and pattered away into
the darkness. For several minutes the gnome danced
up and down with fury. Then, as there was no one
to pinch or shake, he started to work harder than ever
on the sixth rock of his history. There were six of
the great stones set in a row on one side of the cavern
and the carving on them had taken the old gnome
King the best part of two years. The letters were
crooked and roughly chiseled, but quite readable. On
the first rock he had carved:</p>
<div class="box">
<p class="center">History of Ruggedo in Six Rocks</p>
<p class="center">Ruggedo the Rough—King of the Gnomes</p>
<p class="pnindent">One time Metal Monarch, at other times a
Limoneag, a goose, a nut, and now a common
gnome by order of
<span class="jr"><i>Ozma of Oz.</i></span></p>
</div>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</div>
<p>The second rock told of Ruggedo’s magnificent
Kingdom under the mountains of Ev, of the thousands
of gnomes he had ruled and the great treasure of precious
gems he had possessed, in those good old days
before he was banished from his dominions.</p>
<p>The third rock told of his transformation of the
Queen of Ev and her children into ornaments for his
palace and of their rescue by a party from Oz, through
the cleverness of Billina, a yellow hen. It told of the
loss of his Magic Belt which was captured at this same
time by Dorothy, a little girl from Kansas.</p>
<p>The fourth rock related how Ruggedo had tried to
conquer Oz and recover his belt; how all of his plans
failed and how he tumbled into the Fountain of Oblivion
and forgot all about his campaign.</p>
<p>The fifth rock had taken Ruggedo the longest to
carve, for it gave the story of his banishment by the
Great Jinn Titihoochoo. You have probably read this
story yourself. How Tik Tok, Betsy Bobbin, Shaggyman
and Polychrome, trying to find Shaggy’s brother,
hidden in the Gnome King’s metal forest, were thrown
down a long tube to the other side of the world, and
how the owner of the tube sent Quox, the dragon, to
punish Ruggedo by banishment from his Kingdom and
how Kaliko was made King of the Gnomes.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</div>
<p>The sixth rock told of Ruggedo’s last attempt to capture
Oz. Meeting Kiki Aru, a Highup boy who knew
a magic transformation word, Ruggedo suggested that
they change themselves to Limoneags—queer beasts
with lion heads, monkey tails and eagle wings—get all
the beasts of Oz to help and march on the Emerald
City. But this plan failed, too. Kiki lost his temper
and changed Ruggedo to a goose, the Wizard of
Oz discovered the magic word and changed both the
conspirators to nuts. Later on they were changed back
to their normal shapes, but again Ruggedo was
plunged into the Fountain of Oblivion and again forgot
his wicked plans. This ended the rock history, except
for a short sentence stating that Ruggedo now lived in
the Emerald City.</p>
<p>But the magic of the Fountain of Oblivion had soon
worn off and it was not long before Ruggedo began to
remember his past wickedness. That is why he decided
to carve his life story in rock, so that it would
be handy should he ever fall into the forgetful fountain
again. And it had taken six rocks to tell all of
his adventures. He had not carved these stories just
as they had happened, nor ever called himself wicked,
but he had told most of the facts, leaving out the parts
most unflattering to himself. And now it was finished—his
whole history in six rocks. Throwing down his
chisel for the last time, Ruggedo straightened up and
regarded his work with glowing pride.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</div>
<p>“I don’t believe there’s another history like this in
all Oz,” puffed the gnome, tugging at his silver beard.</p>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_086.jpg" alt="(unlabelled)" width-obs="600" height-obs="418" /></div>
<p>“It’s a good thing,” chuckled Wag, who had come
back to eat a carrot. “Oz would not be a very happy
place if there were many folks like you.”</p>
<p>He seated himself quietly on the first rock of Ruggedo’s
history, and began nibbling his carrot.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</div>
<p>“Get up! How dare you sit on my history?” Ruggedo
stamped his foot and started threateningly toward
Wag.</p>
<p>“All right,” said the rabbit, “it’s too hard, anyway.”</p>
<p>“Of course it’s hard,” stormed Ruggedo. “I’ve had
a hard life; hard as those rocks. Everybody’s been
against me from the very start, and all because I’m so
little,” he finished bitterly.</p>
<p>“No, because you are so wicked,” said the rabbit
calmly. “Now, don’t throw your pipe at me, for you
know it’s the truth.”</p>
<p>Ruggedo glared at the rabbit for a minute, then
rushed over to the wooden doll, and began shaking her
furiously. He always vented his rage on the wooden
doll.</p>
<p>“Stop that,” screamed Wag, “or I’ll leave upon the
spot. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You old
scrabble-scratch.”</p>
<p>“She’s not alive,” snapped Ruggedo sulkily.</p>
<p>“How do you know?” retorted the rabbit. “Anyway,
she’s a jolly creature. I’m not going to have her
banged around. Here you’ve taken her away from her
little mother, and she hasn’t even anyone to rock her
to sleep.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</div>
<p>“I’ll rock her to sleep,” screamed Ruggedo, maliciously.
And flinging the doll on the floor he began
hurling small rocks at the helpless little figure.</p>
<p>Scrambling to his feet, Wag rescued the wooden doll
again, and Ruggedo, who really was afraid the rabbit
would leave him, subsided into his rocking chair. Then
reaching up to a small shelf over his head, he pulled
down an accordion. At the first doleful wheeze Wag
gave a great hop, dropped Peg and disappeared into
his room in the farthest corner of the cave.</p>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_088.jpg" alt="(unlabelled)" width-obs="600" height-obs="424" /></div>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</div>
<p>After his last attempt to capture Oz, the gnome had
been given a small cottage to live in, just outside the
Emerald City. But Ruggedo could not bear life above
ground. The sunlight hurt his eyes, and the contented,
happy faces of the people hurt his feelings, for
he was exactly what Wag had called him—an old
scrabble-scratch. So, while he pretended to live in the
little cottage, according to Ozma’s orders, he really
spent most of his time in this deep, dark cave. He
entered it by a secret passage, opening from his cellar.</p>
<p>Digging the long passage had been the hardest work
Ruggedo had ever done in his bad little life. While
toiling one day, he had bumped into the underground
burrow of Wag, a wandering rabbit of Oz, and after a
deal of bargaining, the rabbit had agreed to help him.
Wag was to receive a ruby a month for his services,
for the gnome still had a large bag of precious stones,
which he had brought from the old Kingdom. After
the bargain with Wag was made, the passage progressed
rapidly, for the rabbit was an expert digger.</p>
<p>It was Ruggedo’s idea to tunnel himself out a secret
chamber, directly under Ozma’s palace, and there
establish a kingdom of his own. But when they had
almost reached the spot, the earth began to crumble
away, and a few strokes of Ruggedo’s spade revealed
a great dark cavern, already tunneled by someone
else. It was huge and the exact shape of the royal
palace. This Ruggedo discovered by careful measurement,
and also that it was directly beneath the gorgeous
green edifice, so that the footsteps of the
servants could be heard faintly, pattering to and fro.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</div>
<p>This dark, underground retreat suited the former
Gnome King exactly and, without stopping to wonder
to whom it had belonged, Ruggedo gleefully took possession.
For almost two years he had lived here without
anyone suspecting it, but so far his kingdom had
not progressed very well. Wag had tried to coax some
of his rabbit relations to serve the old gnome as subjects,
but Ruggedo, besides his terrible temper, had a
mean habit of pulling their ears, so that the whole
crew had deserted the first week. He had pulled
Wag’s ears once, but the rabbit tore out a pawful of
his whiskers, and bit him so severely in the leg that
Ruggedo had never dared to try it again.</p>
<p>Wag had stayed partly because Ruggedo amused
him and partly because of the bribes, for every day,
in fear of losing his only retainer, Ruggedo brought
Wag something from the Emerald City—something
he had stolen! In return, Wag waited on the bad little
gnome and listened to his grumblings against everybody
in Oz. All the furnishings of this strange cave
had been stolen from various houses in the Emerald
City. The twenty-seven brocade cushions had been
taken, one at a time from the palace; the green emerald
lamp also. Every day Ruggedo ran innocently
about the city, pretending to visit this one and that,
and every day cups, spoons, and candlesticks disappeared.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</div>
<p>The doll’s rocker, which Ruggedo insisted upon calling
his throne, had been taken from Betsy Bobbin, a
little girl who lived with Ozma in the palace. He had
lugged it through the secret passage with great difficulty.
The wooden doll had been stolen from Trot,
another of Ozma’s companions. She was Trot’s favorite
doll, for she had been carved out of wood by Captain
Bill, an old one-legged sailor, who was one of the
most celebrated characters in all Oz. He had carved
her for Trot one day when they were on a picnic in the
Winkie Country, from the wood of a small yellow tree,
and as Captain Bill had old-fashioned notions, Peg was
a very old-fashioned doll. But she had splendid joints
and could sit down and stand up. Her face was
painted and as pleasant as laughing blue eyes, a
turned-up nose, and a smiling mouth could make it.
Trot had dressed her in a funny, old-fashioned dress,
with pantalettes, and then, thinking Peg too short a
name, the little girl had added Amy, because she was
so amiable, she confided laughingly to the old sailor.
Captain Bill had wagged his head understandingly,
and Peg Amy had straightway become the most popular
doll in the palace; that is, until she disappeared,
for Ruggedo had found her one day in the garden and,
chuckling wickedly, had carried her off to his cave.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</div>
<p>How Trot would have felt if she had seen her poor
doll being shaken and scolded by the old Gnome King!
But Trot never knew. She hunted and hunted for her
doll, and finally gave up in despair. Fortunately, Peg
was well made, or she would have been shaken to bits,
but her joints held bravely, and nothing—not even
the terrible scolding of the bad old gnome—could
change her pleasant expression.</p>
<p>Being the sole subject of so wicked a King, however,
was wearing even for a wooden doll, and Peg was
beginning to show signs of wear. Her nose was badly
chipped, one pantalette was missing, and both sleeves
had been jerked from her dress by the furious old
gnome. If the rabbit was around, Ruggedo did not
shake Peg as hard as he wanted to, but when the rabbit
was gone, he pretended she was his old steward, Kaliko,
and scolded and flung her about to his heart’s
content.</p>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_091.jpg" alt="Ruggedo scolded and flung Peg about furiously" width-obs="545" height-obs="800" /> <p class="caption"><span class="sc">Ruggedo scolded and flung Peg about furiously</span></p> </div>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</div>
<p>When not carving his history or shaking Peg, Ruggedo
had spent most of his time digging new tunnels
and chambers, so that leading off from the main cavern
was a perfect network of underground passages. In
the back of Ruggedo’s head was a notion that some
day he would conquer the Emerald City, regain his
magic powers and then, after changing all the inhabitants
to mouldy muffins, return to his dominions and
oust Kaliko from his throne. Just how this was to
be done, he had not decided, but the secret passages
would be useful. So meanwhile he dug secret
passages.</p>
<p>Above ground the little rascal went about so meekly
and pretended to be so delighted with his life among
the inhabitants of the Emerald City, that Ozma really
thought he had reformed. Wag, to whom he confided
his plans, would shake his head gloomily and often
planned to leave the services of the wicked old gnome.
There was no real harm in Wag, but the rabbit had a
weakness for collecting, and the spoons, cups and odds
and ends that Ruggedo brought him from the Emerald
City filled him with delight. He felt that they were
not gotten honestly, but his work for Ruggedo was
honest and hard, “and it’s not my fault if the old
scrabble-scratch steals ’em,” Wag would mumble to
himself. In his heart he knew that he was doing
wrong to stay with Ruggedo, but like all foolish creatures
he could not make up his mind to go. So this
very night, while the old gnome sat playing the accordion
and howling doleful snatches of the Gnome National
Air, Wag was gloating over his treasures. They
quite filled his little dug-out room. There were two
emerald plates, a gold pencil, a dozen china cups and
saucers, twenty thimbles stolen from the work baskets
of the good dames of Oz, scraps of silk, pictures
and almost everything you could imagine.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</div>
<p>“I’ll soon have enough to marry and go to house-keeping
on,” murmured the rabbit, clasping his paws
and twitching his nose very fast. He picked up a
pair of purple wool socks that had once belonged to a
little girl’s doll and regarded them rapturously. Out
of all the articles Ruggedo had given him, Wag considered
these purple socks the most valuable, perhaps
because they exactly fitted him and were the only
things he could really use. The squeaking of the accordion
stopped at last and, supposing his wicked little
master had retired for the night, Wag prepared to
enjoy himself. Draping a green silk scarf over his
shoulders, he strutted before the mirror, pretending he
was a Courtier of Oz. Then, throwing down the scarf,
he sat down on the floor and had just drawn on one
of the socks when a loud shrill scream from Ruggedo
made his ears stand straight on end in amazement.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</div>
<p>“What now?” coughed the rabbit, seizing the candle.
Ruggedo was on his knees before the rocking
chair.</p>
<p>“As I was sitting here, playing and singing,” spluttered
the old gnome, “I noticed a little ring in one of
the rocks on the floor!”</p>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_095.jpg" alt="(unlabelled)" width-obs="600" height-obs="412" /></div>
<p>“Well, what of it?” sniffed Wag, leaning down to
pull up his sock.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</div>
<p>“What of it?” shrieked the gnome. “What of it,
you poor, puny earth worm! Look!” Leaning over
Ruggedo’s shoulder and dropping hot candle grease
down the gnome’s neck, Wag peered into a square
opening in the floor. There lay a small gold box.
Studded in gems on the lid were these words:</p>
<div class="box">
<p class="center">Glegg’s Box of Mixed Magic.</p>
</div>
<p>“Mixed magic!” stuttered Wag, dropping the candle.
“Oh, my socks and soup spoons!”</p>
<p>Ruggedo said nothing, but his little red eyes blazed
maliciously. Reaching down, he lifted out the box
and, clasping it to his fat little stomach, shook his fist
at the high domed ceiling of the cave.</p>
<p>“Now!” hissed Ruggedo triumphantly. “Now we
shall see what mixed magic will do to the Emerald
City of Oz!”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</div>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_097.jpg" alt="(unlabelled)" width-obs="500" height-obs="484" /></div>
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