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Scarecrow. “The Tin Woodman can chop logs and fasten them together to make a raft. We’ll float across.”

So the Tin Woodman set to work by chopping down small trees. But it takes a long time to build a raft, even when one is as assiduous as the Tin Woodman. By nightfall, the work was still not done, and Dorothy, now comfortably ensconced in a bed of dry leaves, fell asleep.

The next morning the raft was finished, and Dorothy and her friends awakened feeling refreshed and full of hope. The halcyon landscape across the river seemed to herald an auspicious new chapter in their peregrinations.

Dorothy sat at the middle of the raft with Toto in her arms. When the massive Lion stepped on, the raft listed so severely to starboard that it appeared the vessel might founder. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman quickly positioned themselves on the port side, one near the bow and the other near the stern, and this way they were able to steady the wobbly craft.

With long poles held in their hands, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, pushing against the river bottom, began propelling the raft across the river. They moved along quite well at first, but when they reached the middle of the river, the strong, inexorable current swept them downstream, further and further away from the yellow brick road.

In an effort to stop the errant raft, the Scarecrow pushed hard on his pole and it stuck fast in the viscous mud. Before he could pull it back out or even let go, the raft was swept away from under his feet, and the hapless Scarecrow was left clinging to the pole in the middle of the river!

Soon the careering raft was far downstream, and the Lion, realizing something must be done to save them, said to the Tin Woodman, “I’ll jump into the water and swim to shore. If you hold on to the end of my tail, the raft will be pulled along behind me.”

The Lion swam tenaciously, but the implacable current was hard to overcome. Eventually he managed to draw the raft out of the flow, and Dorothy, taking the long pole from the Tin Woodman, conned the craft to shore.

With the rafting fiasco behind them, it was now time to find their way back to the Scarecrow and the yellow brick road. The Lion thought the best plan would be to simply walk along the riverbank toward where they had started. So, with their flagging energy restored by a short rest, they began their journey upstream.

As they walked they couldn’t help but imbibe the beauty of the scenery. Myriads of motes, hitherto invisible, now flitted evanescently as the wind whisked them through parallel bars of sunlight. And beyond them Dorothy saw a copse of pretty trees festooned with multicolored fruits. If not for her deep concern for the Scarecrow, Dorothy could have been very happy on this side of the river.

All at once the Tin Woodman pointed and cried out, "Look!"

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