L. Frank Baum_Oz 14 Read Online Free PDF Page B

the girls and in a gruff voice
demanded:
    "What are you doing here? Have the Skeezers sent you to spy upon us?"
    "I am Princess Ozma, Ruler of all the Land of Oz."
    "Well, I've never heard of the Land of Oz, so you may be what you
claim," returned the Flathead.
    "This is the Land of Oz—part of it, anyway," exclaimed Dorothy. "So
Princess Ozma rules you Flathead people, as well as all the other
people in Oz."
    The man laughed, and all the others who stood around laughed, too. Some
one in the crowd called:
    "She'd better not tell the Supreme Dictator about ruling the Flatheads.
Eh, friends?"
    "No, indeed!" they all answered in positive tones.
    "Who is your Supreme Dictator?" answered Ozma.
    "I think I'll let him tell you that himself," answered the man who had
first spoken. "You have broken our laws by coming here; and whoever you
are the Supreme Dictator must fix your punishment. Come along with me."
    He started down a path and Ozma and Dorothy followed him without
protest, as they wanted to see the most important person in this queer
country. The houses they passed seemed pleasant enough and each had a
little yard in which were flowers and vegetables. Walls of rock
separated the dwellings, and all the paths were paved with smooth slabs
of rock. This seemed their only building material and they utilized it
cleverly for every purpose.
    Directly in the center of the great saucer stood a larger building
which the Flathead informed the girls was the palace of the Supreme
Dictator. He led them through an entrance hall into a big reception
room, where they sat upon stone benches and awaited the coming of the
Dictator. Pretty soon he entered from another room—a rather lean and
rather old Flathead, dressed much like the others of this strange race,
and only distinguished from them by the sly and cunning expression of
his face. He kept his eyes half closed and looked through the slits of
them at Ozma and Dorothy, who rose to receive him.
    "Are you the Supreme Dictator of the Flatheads?" inquired Ozma.
    "Yes, that's me," he said, rubbing his hands slowly together. "My word
is law. I'm the head of the Flatheads on this flat headland."
    "I am Princess Ozma of Oz, and I have come from the Emerald City to—"
    "Stop a minute," interrupted the Dictator, and turned to the man who
had brought the girls there. "Go away, Dictator Felo Flathead!" he
commanded. "Return to your duty and guard the Stairway. I will look
after these strangers." The man bowed and departed, and Dorothy asked
wonderingly:
    "Is he a Dictator, too?"
    "Of course," was the answer. "Everybody here is a dictator of something
or other. They're all office holders. That's what keeps them contented.
But I'm the Supreme Dictator of all, and I'm elected once a year. This
is a democracy, you know, where the people are allowed to vote for
their rulers. A good many others would like to be Supreme Dictator, but
as I made a law that I am always to count the votes myself, I am always
elected."
    "What is your name?" asked Ozma.
    "I am called the Su-dic, which is short for Supreme Dictator. I sent
that man away because the moment you mentioned Ozma of Oz, and the
Emerald City, I knew who you are. I suppose I'm the only Flathead that
ever heard of you, but that's because I have more brains than the rest."
    Dorothy was staring hard at the Su-dic.
    "I don't see how you can have any brains at all," she remarked,
"because the part of your head is gone where brains are kept."
    "I don't blame you for thinking that," he said. "Once the Flatheads had
no brains because, as you say, there is no upper part to their heads,
to hold brains. But long, long ago a band of fairies flew over this
country and made it all a fairyland, and when they came to the
Flatheads the fairies were sorry to find them all very stupid and quite
unable to think. So, as there was no good place in their bodies in
which to put brains the Fairy Queen gave each one of us a nice can of
brains to carry in his pocket and that made