Well, the rest of the story is quickly told, for the
return Journey of our adventurers was without any
important incident. The Scarecrow was so afraid of
meeting the Hip-po-gy-raf, and having his straw eaten
again, that he urged his comrades to select another
route to the Emerald City, and they willingly
consented, so that the Invisible Country was wholly
avoided.

Of course, when they reached the Emerald City their
first duty was to visit Ozma’s palace, where they were
royally entertained. The Tin Soldier and Woot the
Wanderer were welcomed as warmly as any strangers might
be who had been the traveling companions of Ozma’s dear
old friends, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman.

At the banquet table that evening they related the
manner in which they had discovered Nimmie Amee, and
told how they had found her happily married to Chopfyt,
whose relationship to Nick Chopper and Captain Fyter
was so bewildering that they asked Ozma’s advice what
to do about it.

“You need not consider Chopfyt at all,” replied the
beautiful girl Ruler of Oz. “If Nimmie Amee is content
with that misfit man for a husband, we have not even
just cause to blame Ku-Klip for gluing him together.”

“I think it was a very good idea,” added little
Dorothy, “for if Ku-Klip hadn’t used up your castoff
parts, they would have been wasted. It’s wicked to be
wasteful, isn’t it?”

“Well, anyhow,” said Woot the Wanderer, “Chopfyt,
being kept a prisoner by his wife, is too far away from
anyone to bother either of you tin men in any way. If
you hadn’t gone where he is and discovered him, you
would never have worried about him.”

“What do you care, anyhow,” Betsy Bobbin asked the
Tin Woodman, “so long as Nimmie Amee is satisfied?”

“And just to think,” remarked Tiny Trot, “that any
girl would rather live with a mixture like Chopfyt, on
far-away Mount Munch, than to be the Empress of the
Winkies!”

“It is her own choice,” said the Tin Woodman
contentedly; “and, after all, I’m not sure the Winkies
would care to have an Empress.”

It puzzled Ozma, for a time, to decide what to do
with the Tin Soldier. If he went with the Tin Woodman
to the Emperor’s castle, she felt that the two tin men
might not be able to live together in harmony, and
moreover the Emperor would not be so distinguished if
he had a double constantly beside him. So she asked
Captain Fyter if he was willing to serve her as a
soldier, and he promptly declared that nothing would
please him more. After he had been in her service for
some time, Ozma sent him into the Gillikin Country,
with instructions to keep order among the wild people
who inhabit some parts of that unknown country of Oz.

As for Woot, being a Wanderer by profession, he was
allowed to wander wherever he desired, and Ozma
promised to keep watch over his future journeys and to
protect the boy as well as she was able, in case he
ever got into more trouble.

All this having been happily arranged, the Tin
Woodman returned to his tin castle, and his chosen
comrade, the Scarecrow, accompanied him on the way. The
two friends were sure to pass many pleasant hours
together in talking over their recent adventures, for
as they neither ate nor slept they found their greatest
amusement in conversation.

THE FAMOUS OZ BOOKS
By L. Frank Baum:

The Wizard of Oz
The Land of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
The Road to Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
Tik-Tok of Oz
The Scarecrow of Oz
Rinkitink in Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz
The Tin Woodman of Oz
The Magic Of Oz
Glinda of Oz

End of Project Gutenberg’s Etext of The Tin Woodman of Oz, by Baum