Get your own Free Home PageAfter his landing in Ev, Prince Pompadore decided that one direction was as good as any other, so he set out toward the northwest. He continued in this direction until nightfall without seeing anything but green grass and the sky. Being tired from the day's experiences, the Prince lay down just as the Sun disappeared behind the horizon.
Pompa dreamed that he and Peg Amy were riding Kabumpo along the shore. Suddenly, a tidal wave, which was at least thirty feet high, approached the coast. The three Pumperdinkians were frozen in fear as the tsunami came toward them. Just as the enormous wave made contact with him, the Prince awakened, and discovered that it was raining.
"As long as there's no lightning, I'll be all right," thought the Prince of Pumperdink.
As you may have guessed, a bolt of lightning ripped through the sky at that very moment. Pompa dropped to the ground, closed his eyes, and lay in wait for a shock of static electricity, or the end of the storm. However, before either of these could happen, two soft arms lifted the Prince, and Pompadore was placed on a strangely familiar object. Upon opening his eyes, Pompa realized that this object was the same cloud that he had ridden to Pitchville. The hands that had lifted him belonged to none other than Lord Kloudster.
"I thought you were going to Pumperdink," stated the nobleman.
"I was," replied the Prince, "but the Prime Pitcher threw the throne in the wrong direction."
"That proves what I always say. Never let a Giant do anything important. They'll always find some way to botch it up. You're lucky I happened to be travelling in this direction. I'll take you to a town. No Prince should be left out in the middle of nowhere, especially during a storm."
"That's very kind of you, Sir."
Kloudster swiftly pushed the cloud through the air, arriving outside of the storm in half an hour. Ten minutes after that, the Cloud-Pusher saw a town.
"I'll just let you off in that village," said Kloudster. "It's called Cyclonia, and I believe that some sort of wizard lives there. He'll be able to find a way to get you to Pumperdink."
The lord descended to the town, where Pompadore stepped off of the cloud. After bidding farewell to the Prince, Kloudster returned to the sky.
A few blocks down the street onto which he had stepped, Pompa noticed a crowd of people. These Cyclonians had black or dark brown hair, and this hair was arranged in the shape of a cyclone. They wore grey or light blue T-shirts and blue jeans. The crowd was facing away from the Prince, so, as soon as he was close to them, the Pumperdinkian called, "Excuse me, good folk!"
This caused the entire crowd to turn around and look at Pompadore. One of the Cyclonians stated, "I assume you've come here to see Cyclonius."
"Who is Cyclonius?" inquired the Prince.
"He's a wizard, of course."
"Well then, I have come to see him. How did you know?"
"Strangers don't come to this town except to see Cyclonius."
"Well, where does he live?"
"Right up this street, at the north end of town."
"Thank you, Sir."
"My name's not Sir, it's Twisterius."
"Well then, thank you, Twisterius."
Prince Pompadore followed the street to the north end of town. There, he saw a tornado-shaped building made of shining steel. Pompa knocked at the door of this structure, and it was answered by a man, who was similar to the Cyclonians that the Prince had seen on the street, but he was dressed in a grey robe, rather than the casual clothes that the others wore.
"What do you need?" asked this man.
"I'd like to see the wizard, please," replied Pompadore.
"I am the wizard. My name is Cyclonius. Now, what is it that you need?"
"I'd like you to send me to Pumperdink, in the Land of Oz."
"The Land of Oz, eh? That reminds me of something that happened about, oh, ninety years ago. But I'm being rude, leaving you out here. Come on in!"
Prince Pompa followed the wizard into the building. The inside of Cyclonius's dwelling contained three couches, two tables, and a great number of boxes, both steel and cardboard. Various tools were scattered all over the place. At the far end of the room that made up the entire first floor was an instrument panel, with ten monitors on the wall above it. In the center of the chamber, a spiral staircase wound up to other stories of the wizard's home.
At the wizard's direction, Pompa seated himself on a couch, which faced the instrument panel. The Prince then asked Cyclonius, "What kind of wizard are you?"
"You mean you've never heard of the great Cyclonius?" inquired the wizard, in a surprised tone.
"All I know is that you're a wizard."
"Well, I am known, far and wide, as the Great Tornado Wizard. With my powers, and some help from that panel, I can conjure up a magical tornado, which can carry someone from here to anywhere else in the world."
"That sounds very interesting."
"Oh, it is. Now, you said you wanted to go to Oz?"
"Yes, that is where I live. I am the Prince of Pumperdink, which is located in the north central part of Oz."
"Just hearing that word reminds me of the time, ninety-some years ago, that one of my tornadoes had a major effect on the course of hoztory. Would you like to hear the story?"
"Yes, I would."
"Well, one day, this salesman knocked at my door. I told him that I didn't want any of what he was selling, but he told me he didn't want to sell me anything; he wanted to go to the Great Outside World, as he was not having much luck selling in Ev, and he heard that some people in the Outside World would buy anything. So I sent him off to New York, which is a major city in a country known as America. However, between here and New York, there's a great prairie where cyclones often occur. Well, when crossing the prairie, my tornado collided with another one. Since my creation was stronger, it destroyed the other cyclone, but the collision threw my whirlwind off course. When the tornadoes collided, the other one's, well, cargo, you might call it, was transferred to my creation, and the salesman fell to the ground.
"Now, you're probably wondering what cargo was transferred. Well, it was a farmhouse, a farmhouse with a little girl and her dog inside. The tornado brought the house to the Land of Oz, where it dropped the dwelling on top of the Wicked Witch of the East."
"Then the girl and the dog must have been-"
"Quite correct. They were Dorothy and Toto."
"Well, I've often heard the story of how the Witch of the East was destroyed, and I've met Dorothy and Toto, but I never knew that a Tornado Wizard was involved in the story."
"You learn something new every day. Now, are you ready to travel to Pumperdink?"
"Wait a minute. Can you direct your tornadoes to people as well as places?"
"Well, it takes a little more work, but I can."
"And what about elephants?"
"That would be easier than a person, since elephants are usually bigger than people."
"Then could you send me to where Kabumpo the elephant is?"
"I suppose I could do that."
"And could you send me from there to Pumperdink?"
"No, I can't do that. My tornadoes must start here. However, I do have something else that may be able to help you."
Cyclonius opened a cardboard box and rummaged around in it for a while. He then drew out a rattle with a rotating top. The necromancer handed this device to the Prince of Pumperdink.
"Just spin this around your head a few times," explained Cyclonius, "and you and whomever you are touching will be transported to the Emerald City of Oz. Once you're there, Queen Ozma can find a way to send you back to Pumperdink."
"Thank you very much, Sir," said Pompa. "Do you charge anything for your services?" The Prince knew that many people expected payment for their deeds.
"No, I have no need for money. I can produce almost anything that I need with my magic, and if I need something that I can't produce, I can always trade for it. Are you ready for your ride?"
"Yes," answered Pompa, as he thought about all of the strange methods of transportation that he had used during the journey.
"Well then, good-bye, Prince."
The magician pressed a button on the arm of the couch in which Pompa was seated. Pompadore then found himself outside of the building. As the couch did not exit with him, the Prince was seated on the ground.
Suddenly, the air surrounding Prince Pompa began to spin. After the air had reached a very high speed, Pompa was raised to the top of the magically-created cyclone. The whirlwind then moved toward the north-east, carrying the Prince with it.
The tornado travelled for a few hours. As it was nearly impossible to see outside of the whirlwind, Pompa had no idea of where he was. Finally, in the evening, the cyclone stopped. However, it did not stop before picking up a few new passengers, who, quite naturally, were screaming. When the tornado did cease movement, it was right over the Nonestic Ocean. All of the whirlwind riders fell into this sea, which caused even more shouting than the tornado had.
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