“And now,” said Dorothy, “how am I to get back to Kansas?”

“We shall have to think about that,” replied the little man.  “Give me two or three days to consider the matter and I’ll try to find a way to carry you over the desert.  In the meantime you shall all be treated as my guests, and while you live in the Palace my people will wait upon you and obey your slightest wish.  There is only one thing I ask in return for my help—­such as it is.  You must keep my secret and tell no one I am a humbug.”

They agreed to say nothing of what they had learned, and went back to their rooms in high spirits.  Even Dorothy had hope that “The Great and Terrible Humbug,” as she called him, would find a way to send her back to Kansas, and if he did she was willing to forgive him everything.

16.  The Magic Art of the Great Humbug

Next morning the Scarecrow said to his friends: 

“Congratulate me.  I am going to Oz to get my brains at last.  When I return I shall be as other men are.”

“I have always liked you as you were,” said Dorothy simply.

“It is kind of you to like a Scarecrow,” he replied.  “But surely you will think more of me when you hear the splendid thoughts my new brain is going to turn out.”  Then he said good-bye to them all in a cheerful voice and went to the Throne Room, where he rapped upon the door.

    “Come in,” said Oz.

The Scarecrow went in and found the little man sitting down by the window, engaged in deep thought.

    “I have come for my brains,” remarked the Scarecrow, a little uneasily.

“Oh, yes; sit down in that chair, please,” replied Oz.  “You must excuse me for taking your head off, but I shall have to do it in order to put your brains in their proper place.”

“That’s all right,” said the Scarecrow.  “You are quite welcome to take my head off, as long as it will be a better one when you put it on again.”

So the Wizard unfastened his head and emptied out the straw.  Then he entered the back room and took up a measure of bran, which he mixed with a great many pins and needles.  Having shaken them together thoroughly, he filled the top of the Scarecrow’s head with the mixture and stuffed the rest of the space with straw, to hold it in place.

When he had fastened the Scarecrow’s head on his body again he said to him, “Hereafter you will be a great man, for I have given you a lot of bran-new brains.”

The Scarecrow was both pleased and proud at the fulfillment of his greatest wish, and having thanked Oz warmly he went back to his friends.

Dorothy looked at him curiously.  His head was quite bulged out at the top with brains.

    “How do you feel?” she asked.

“I feel wise indeed,” he answered earnestly.  “When I get used to my brains I shall know everything.”

“Why are those needles and pins sticking out of your head?” asked the Tin Woodman.