they set to work in one of the big yellow rooms of the castle and
worked for three days and four nights, hammering and twisting and
bending and soldering and polishing and pounding at the legs and body
and head of the Tin Woodman, until at last he was straightened out into
his old form, and his joints worked as well as ever. To be sure, there
were several patches on him, but the tinsmiths did a good job, and as
the Woodman was not a vain man he did not mind the patches at all.
When, at last, he walked into Dorothy s room and thanked her for
rescuing him, he was so pleased that he wept tears of joy, and Dorothy
had to wipe every tear carefully from his face with her apron, so his
joints would not be rusted. At the same time her own tears fell thick
and fast at the joy of meeting her old friend again, and these tears
did not need to be wiped away. As for the Lion, he wiped his eyes so
often with the tip of his tail that it became quite wet, and he was
obliged to go out into the courtyard and hold it in the sun till it
dried.
If we only had the Scarecrow with us again, said the Tin Woodman,
when Dorothy had finished telling him everything that had happened, I
should be quite happy.
We must try to find him, said the girl.
So she called the Winkies to help her, and they walked all that day and
part of the next until they came to the tall tree in the branches of
which the Winged Monkeys had tossed the Scarecrow s clothes.
It was a very tall tree, and the trunk was so smooth that no one could
climb it; but the Woodman said at once, I ll chop it down, and then we
can get the Scarecrow s clothes.
Now while the tinsmiths had been at work mending the Woodman himself,
another of the Winkies, who was a goldsmith, had made an axe-handle of
solid gold and fitted it to the Woodman s axe, instead of the old
broken handle. Others polished the blade until all the rust was removed
and it glistened like burnished silver.
As soon as he had spoken, the Tin Woodman began to chop, and in a short
time the tree fell over with a crash, whereupon the Scarecrow s clothes
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