Dorothy went to work meekly, with her mind made up to work ashard as she could; for she was glad the Wicked Witch had decidednot to kill her.
With Dorothy hard at work, the Witch thought she would go intothe courtyard and harness the Cowardly Lion like a horse; it wouldamuse her, she was sure, to make him draw her chariot whenever shewished to go to drive. But as she opened the gate the Lion gave aloud roar and bounded at her so fiercely that the Witch was afraid,and ran out and shut the gate again.
"If I cannot harness you," said the Witch to the Lion,speaking through the bars of the gate, "I can starve you.You shall have nothing to eat until you do as I wish."So after that she took no food to the imprisoned Lion;but every day she came to the gate at noon and asked, "Are youready to be harnessed like a horse?"And the Lion would answer, "No. If you come in this yard, Iwill bite you."
The reason the Lion did not have to do as the Witch wished wasthat every night, while the woman was asleep, Dorothy carried himfood from the cupboard. After he had eaten he would lie down onhis bed of straw, and Dorothy would lie beside him and put herhead on his soft, shaggy mane, while they talked of their troublesand tried to plan some way to escape. But they could find no wayto get out of the castle, for it was constantly guarded by theyellow Winkies, who were the slaves of the Wicked Witch andtoo afraid of her not to do as she told them.The girl had to work hard during the day, and often the Witchthreatened to beat her with the same old umbrella she alwayscarried in her hand. But, in truth, she did not dare to strikeDorothy, because of the mark upon her forehead. The child did notknow this, and was full of fear for herself and Toto. Once theWitch struck Toto a blow with her umbrella and the brave littledog flew at her and bit her leg in return. The Witch did notbleed where she was bitten, for she was so wicked that the bloodin her had dried up many years before.
Dorothy's life became very sad as she grew to understand thatit would be harder than ever to get back to Kansas and Aunt Em again.Sometimes she would cry bitterly for hours, with Toto sitting at herfeet and looking into her face, whining dismally to show how sorryhe was for his little mistress. Toto did not really care whetherhe was in Kansas or the Land of Oz so long as Dorothy was with him;but he knew the little girl was unhappy, and that made him unhappy too.Now the Wicked Witch had a great longing to have for her ownthe Silver Shoes which the girl always wore. Her bees and hercrows and her wolves were lying in heaps and drying up, and shehad used up all the power of the Golden Cap; but if she couldonly get hold of the Silver Shoes, they would give her more powerthan all the other things she had lost. She watched Dorothy carefully,to see if she ever took off her shoes, thinking she might steal them.But the child was so proud of her pretty shoes that she never took
