and warm. Toto and the Lion lolled near the fire awhile, then fell fast asleep. The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, not needing sleep, stood awake all night plying the burning pyre with fresh logs and trying hard not to laugh at the Lion’s stertorous breathing.

The next morning, the little group started off again toward the Emerald City. But within an hour they came to a great ditch that crossed the road and divided the forest as far as they could see to their left and right. Walking to the edge, they saw the sides of the ditch were precipitous and that the deep bottom was filled with large, jagged rocks.

For a while it seemed their journey must end. Then the Lion had a thought, but he felt too diffident to voice it. Finally forcing himself, he proclaimed, “I think I can jump across the ditch!”

“Then we can continue,” said the Scarecrow in another exhibit of perspicacious insight. “You can carry us over on your back, one at a time. Take me first, because if I fall, I won’t get hurt.”

“I’m terribly afraid of falling myself,” said the Lion, “but what else can we do? Get on my back and I’ll give it my best.” So the Scarecrow climbed upon his mighty mount and the large beast, giving a great spring, shot through the air and landed safely on the other side. The Scarecrow dismounted and the Lion sprang back across the ditch for the next passenger.

Dorothy decided she would be next, and since Toto weighed very little, she carried him in her arms. She climbed on the Lion’s back, and in a moment she found herself on a brief but harrowing flight over the treacherous ditch. After landing safely on the other side, the Lion went back a third time for the Tin Woodman.

After they had all safely crossed the ditch, and once the haggard Lion had had a chance to rest awhile, they all set out again along the yellow brick road. On this side of the ditch, the thick, Cimmerian woods frightened the travelers, and each wondered, in his own mind, if they would ever reach the refuge of the Emerald City.

Now Dorothy started to hear strange noises coming from deep within the forest, and the Lion whispered to her, “This is the part of the country where the Kalidahs live.” Then he thought to himself: And I’m scared to death of them! The Kalidahs, he went on to explain, were large, rapacious beasts with heads like tigers and bodies like bears, and with long, sharp claws that could easily sever a limb. Suddenly hearing a tocsin of alarm sound in his mind, he began anxiously obsessing about his dreaded bête noire. That’s when he avowed his great fear of them to Dorothy.

Now, terrified that some Kalidahs might detect their presence, they moved onward as stealthily as possible.

Suddenly they saw before them another gulf across the road. This one was so big that the Lion knew he