The Rescue of the Tin Woodman (The Wizard of Oz (Full Cast))

01V.

02THE RESCUE OF THE TEN WOODMEN.

03When Dorothy awoke the sun was shining through the trees, and Toto had long been out chasing birds around him and squirrels.

04She sat up and looked around her, Scarecrow still standing patiently in his corner waiting for her.

05We must go and search for water, she said to him.

06Why do you want water?

07he asked.

08To wash my face clean after the dust of the road, and to drink so the dry bread will not stick in my throat.

09It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh, said the Scarecrow thoughtfully, for you must sleep and eat and drink.

10However, you have brains, and it is worth the lot of bother to be able to think properly.

11She asked timidly.

12I cannot imagine, replied the Scarecrow.

13But we can go and see.

14Just then another groan reached their ears, and the sound seemed to come from behind them.

15They turned and walked through the forest a few steps, when Dorothy discovered something shining in a ray of sunshine that fell between the trees.

16She ran to the place and then stopped short, with a little cry of surprise.

17One of the big trees had been partly chopped through, and standing beside it with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a man made entirely of tin.

18His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, and he stood perfectly motionless, as if he could not stir at all.

19Dorothy looked at him in amazement, and so did the Scarecrow, while Toto barked sharply and made a snap at the tin legs, which hurt his teeth.

20Did you groan?

21asked Dorothy.

22Yes, answered the tin man.

23I did.

24I've been groaning for more than a year.

25No one has ever heard me before, or come to help me.

26What can I do for you?

27she inquired softly, for she was moved by the sad voice in which the man spoke.

28Oh, get an oil can, and oil my joints, he answered.

29They are rusted so badly that I cannot move them at all.

30If I am well oiled, I shall soon be all right again.

31You will find an oil can on a shelf in my cottage.

32Dorothy at once ran back to the cottage and found the oil can, and then she returned and asked anxiously, Where are your joints?

33Oil my neck first, replied the tin woodman.

34So she oiled it, and as it was quite badly rusted, the Scarecrow took hold of the tin head, and moved it gently from side to side, until it worked freely, and then the man could turn it himself.

35Now oil the joints in my arms, he said.

36And Dorothy oiled them, and the Scarecrow bent them carefully until they were quite free from rust, and as good as new.

37The tin woodman gave a sigh of satisfaction, and lowered his axe, which he leaned against the tree.

38Ah, this is a great comfort, he said.

39I have been holding that axe in the air ever since I rusted, and I am glad to be able to put it down at last.

40Now, if you will oil the joints of my legs, I shall be all right once more.

41So they oiled his legs until he could move them freely, and he thanked them again and again for his release, for he seemed a very polite creature, and very grateful.

42Hmm, I might have stood there always if you had not come along, he said.

43So you have certainly saved my life.

44How did you happen to be here?

45We are on our way to the Emerald City to see the Great Oz, she answered, and we stopped at your cottage to pass the night.

46Why do you wish to see Oz?

47he asked.

48I want him to send me back to Kansas, and the Scarecrow wants him to put a few brains into his head, she replied.

49The tin woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment, then he said, Hmm, do you suppose Oz could give me a heart?

50Why, I guess so, Dorothy answered.

51It would be as easy as to give the Scarecrow brains.

52True, the tin woodman returned.

53So, if you will allow me to join your party, I will also go to the Emerald City and ask Oz to help me.

54Come along, said the Scarecrow heartily, and Dorothy added that she would be pleased to have his company.

55So the tin woodman shouldered his axe, and they all passed through the forest until they came to the road that was paved with yellow brick.

56The tin woodman had asked Dorothy to put the oil can in her basket.

57For, he said, if I should get caught in the rain, and rust again, I would need the oil can badly.

58It was a bit of good luck to have their new comrade join the party, for soon after they had begun their journey again, they came to a place where the trees and branches grew so thick over the road that the travellers could not pass.

59But the tin woodman set to work with his axe, and chopped so well that soon he cleared a passage for the entire party.

60Dorothy was thinking so earnestly as they walked along that she did not notice when the Scarecrow stumbled into a hole and rolled over to the side of the road.

61Indeed, he was obliged to call to her to help him up again.

62Why didn't you walk around the hole?

63asked the tin woodman.

64I don't know enough, replied the Scarecrow cheerfully.

65My head is stuffed with straw, you know, and that is why I am going to Oz to ask him for some brains.

66Oh, I see, said the tin woodman.

67But, after all, brains are not the best things in the world.

68Have you any?

69inquired the Scarecrow.

70No, my head is quite empty, answered the woodman.

71But once I had brains, and a heart also.

72So, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart.

73And why is that?

74asked the Scarecrow.

75I will tell you my story, and then you will know.

76So, while they were walking through the forest, the tin woodman told the following story.

77I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in the forest, and sold the wood for a living.

78When I grew up, I too became a wood-chopper.

79And after my father died, I took care of my old mother as long as she lived.

80Then I made up my mind that, instead of living alone, I would marry, so that I might not become lonely.

81There was one of the munchkin girls, who was so beautiful, that I soon grew to love her with all my heart.

82She, on her part, promised to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money to build a better house for her.

83So, I set to work harder than ever.

84But the girl lived with an old woman, who did not want her to marry anyone.

85For she was so lazy, she wished the girl to remain with her, and do the cooking, and the housework.

86So the old woman went to the wicked witch of the east, and promised her two sheep and a cow, if she would prevent the marriage.

87Thereupon, the wicked witch enchanted my axe, and when I was chopping away at my best one day, for I was anxious to get the new house, and my wife, as soon as possible, the axe slipped all at once, and cut off my left leg.

88This, at first, seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a one-legged man could not do very well as a wood-chopper.

89So, I went to a tin-smith, and had him make me a new leg out of tin.

90The leg worked very well, once I was used to it.

91But my action angered the wicked witch of the east, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the pretty munchkin girl.

92When I began chopping again, my axe slipped and cut off my right leg.

93Again I went to the tin-smith, and again he made me a leg out of tin.

94After this, the enchanted axe cut off my arms, one after the other.

95But nothing daunted.

96I had them replaced with tin ones.

97The wicked witch then made the axe slip and cut off my head, and at first I thought that was the end of me.

98But the tin-smith happened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.

99I thought I had beaten the wicked witch then, and I worked harder than ever.

100But I little knew how cruel my enemy could be.

101She thought of a new way to kill my love for the beautiful munchkin maiden, and made my axe slip again, so that it cut right through my body, splitting me into two halves.

102Once more the tin-smith came to my help, and made me a body of tin, fastening my tin arms and legs, and head to fit it, by means of joints, so that I could move around as well as ever.

103But, alas, I had now no heart, so that I lost all my love for the munchkin girl, and did not care whether I married her or not.

104I suppose she is still living with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.

105My body shone so brightly in the sun, that I felt very proud of it, and it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me.

106There was only one danger, that my joints would rust.

107But I kept an oil-can in my cottage, and took care to oil myself whenever I needed it.

108However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and being caught in a rain-storm, before I thought of the danger, my joints had rusted, and I was left to stand in the woods, until you came to help me.

109It was a terrible thing to undergo, but during the year I stood there, I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart.

110While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth, but no one can love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved to ask Oz to give me one.

111If he does, I will go back to the munchkin maiden and marry her.

112Both Dorothy and the scarecrow had been greatly interested in the story of the tin woodman, and now they knew why he was so anxious to get a new heart.

113All the same, said the scarecrow, I shall ask for brains instead of a heart, for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one.

114I shall take the heart, returned the tin woodman, for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.

115Dorothy did not say anything, for she was puzzled to know which of her two friends was right, and she decided if she could only get back to Kansas and Aunt Em, it did not matter so much whether the woodman had no brains, and the scarecrow no heart, or each got what he wanted.

116What worried her the most was that the bread was nearly gone, and another meal for herself and Toto would empty the basket.

117To be sure, neither the woodman nor the scarecrow ever ate anything, but she was not made of tin nor straw, and could not live unless she was fed.

118End of chapter 5 End of chapter 5