"I don't believe your Czarover can hold a candle to our Ozma.""He wouldn't hold a candle under any circumstances, or to any living person," replied the man very seriously, "for he has slaves to do such things and the Mighty Vig is too dignified to do anything that others can do for him. He even obliges a slave to sneeze for him, if ever he catches cold. However, if you dare to face our powerful ruler, follow me.""We dare anything," said the Wizard, "so go ahead."Through several marble corridors having lofty ceilings they passed, finding each corridor and doorway guarded by servants; but these servants of the palace were of the people and not giants, and they were so thin that they almost resembled skeletons. Finally they entered a great circular room with a high domed ceiling where the Czarover sat on a throne cut from a solid block of white marble and decorated with purple silk hangings and gold tassels.
The ruler of these people was combing his eyebrows when our friends entered his throneroom and stood before him, but he put the comb in his pocket and examined the strangers with evident curiosity. Then he said:
"Dear me, what a surprise! You have really shocked me. For no outsider has ever before come to our City of Herku, and I cannot imagine why you have ventured to do so.""We are looking for Ozma, the Supreme Ruler of the Land of Oz," replied the Wizard.
"Do you see her anywhere around here?" asked the Czarover.
"Not yet, Your Majesty; but perhaps you may tell us where she is.""No; I have my hands full keeping track of my own people. I find them hard to manage because they are so tremendously strong.""They don't look very strong," said Dorothy. "It seems as if a good wind would blow em way out of the city, if it wasn't for the wall.""Just so -- just so," admitted the Czarover. "They really look that way, don't they? But you must never trust to appearances, which have a way of fooling one.
Perhaps you noticed that I prevented you from meeting any of my people. I protected you with my giants while you were on the way from the gates to my palace, so that not a Herku got near you.""Are your people so dangerous, then?" asked the Wizard.
"To strangers, yes; but only because they are so friendly. For, if they shake hands with you, they are likely to break your arms or crush your fingers to a jelly.""Why?" asked Button-Bright.
"Because we are the strongest people in all the world.""Pshaw!" exclaimed the boy, "that's bragging. You prob'ly don't know how strong other people are. Why, once I knew a man in Philadelphi' who could bend iron bars with just his hands!""But-mercy me!-it's no trick to bend iron bars," said His Majesty. "Tell me, could this man crush a block of stone with his bare hands?""No one could do that," declared the boy.
"If I had a block of stone I'd show you," said the Czarover, looking around the room. "Ah, here is my throne. The back is too high, anyhow, so I'll just break off a piece of that."He rose to his feet and tottered in an uncertain way around the throne. Then he took hold of the back and broke off a piece of marble over a foot thick.
"This," said he, coming back to his seat, is very solid marble and much harder than ordinary stone. Yet Ican crumble it easily with my fingers -- a proof that Iam very strong."
Even as he spoke he began breaking off chunks of marble and crumbling them as one would a bit of earth.
The Wizard was so astonished that he took a piece in his own hands and tested it, finding it very hard indeed.
Just then one of the giant servants entered and exclaimed:
"Oh, Your Majesty, the cook has burned the soup! What shall we do?""How dare you interrupt me?" asked the Czarover, and grasping the immense giant by one of his legs he raised him in the air and threw him headfirst out of an open window.
"Now, tell me," he said, turning to Button-Bright, "could your man in Philadelphia crumble marble in his fingers?""I guess not," said Button-Bright, much impressed by the skinny monarch's strength.
"What makes you so strong?" inquired Dorothy.
