them that they were no longer slaves.
There was great rejoicing among the yellow Winkies, for they had been
made to work hard during many years for the Wicked Witch, who had
always treated them with great cruelty. They kept this day as a
holiday, then and ever after, and spent the time in feasting and
dancing.
If our friends, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, were only with us,
said the Lion, I should be quite happy.
Don t you suppose we could rescue them? asked the girl anxiously.
We can try, answered the Lion.
So they called the yellow Winkies and asked them if they would help to
rescue their friends, and the Winkies said that they would be delighted
to do all in their power for Dorothy, who had set them free from
bondage. So she chose a number of the Winkies who looked as if they
knew the most, and they all started away. They traveled that day and
part of the next until they came to the rocky plain where the Tin
Woodman lay, all battered and bent. His axe was near him, but the blade
was rusted and the handle broken off short.
The Winkies lifted him tenderly in their arms, and carried him back to
the Yellow Castle again, Dorothy shedding a few tears by the way at the
sad plight of her old friend, and the Lion looking sober and sorry.
When they reached the castle Dorothy said to the Winkies:
Are any of your people tinsmiths?
Oh, yes. Some of us are very good tinsmiths, they told her.
Then bring them to me, she said. And when the tinsmiths came,
bringing with them all their tools in baskets, she inquired, Can you
straighten out those dents in the Tin Woodman, and bend him back into
shape again, and solder him together where he is broken?
The tinsmiths looked the Woodman over carefully and then answered that
they thought they could mend him so he would be as good as ever. So
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