Get your own Free Home PageWhen he woke up the next morning, Prince Pompadore itched all over. Looking down, he saw the reason for this. He had slept in a large field of purple poison ivy!
Now, you may have thought purple poison ivy strange, but Pompa did not. After all, nearly all Gillikin plants are purple. Even grass and tree leaves have purplish tints. There are four triangular countries in the Land of Oz, and each one has its own color, which is the color of most of the plants and some of the animals of that country, as well as the houses and clothes of the natives. The four countries are the northern Gillikin Country, which, as has been already stated, has purple as its national color, the eastern Munchkin Country, where blue is the official color, the red Quadling Country in the south, and the yellow western Winkie Country. In the center of the entire Land is a green country, where the capital of Oz, the Emerald City, is located.
But we must get back to Prince Pompadore. While scratching his red skin, he looked around for a familiar landmark. However, he saw nothing but poison ivy fields for miles around in all directions but one. To the northeast lay a high wall overgrown with poison ivy. The red Prince walked toward this wall and began to look all around it for a break. It only took five minutes to find a set of iron gates. They stood wide open, but appeared not to have been used for years, for they were extremely rusty and covered, like the wall, with poison ivy. It did not look very inviting, but the Prince thought that someone may live within the wall, so he stepped through the gate into a strange-looking village.
The village, like the area surrounding it, was full of poison ivy. It grew in the yards of the purple brick houses, which had open purplewood doors. However, it seemed to be fairly well cleared off of the streets and the houses themselves. Besides the ivy, other poisonous plants grew in the yards. Large poison oaks towered above the houses. As for animals, there were plenty of poisonous snakes. Fleas and mosquitoes were also common, and they ranged from the ordinary size to that of a house-cat.
There were people in the village, but they were extremely different from outsiders. Their skins were as red as cherries and covered in all sorts of rashes. Their eyes were as red as their skins and many people had them closed or blindfolded. They dressed in purple clothes like ordinary Gillikins, but wore many thick layers to protect them from their surroundings. But the clothes were poor protection, since the mosquitoes in the village could pierce iron. However, the strangest thing about the natives was that their arms were extremely long and ended in back-scratchers rather than hands. These people were constantly scratching their itching skins and rubbing their eyes. Some people were rubbing against their houses and others were letting posts with hands, which were located at intervals on the streets, scratch them. "They must be scratching posts," thought Pompadore.
I do not think that this village could have existed in America. The poison would probably kill all of the inhabitants. However, no Ozite ever dies, so the people of the village were alive, but extremely uncomfortable.
The first inhabitants of the village to notice Pompa were some giant mosquitoes. The oversized insects flew swiftly toward the Prince of Pumperdink. He ducked and dodged these obnoxious creatures, not wishing to itch more than he already did. He was sorry he did not bring a sword with him. The mosquitoes were extremely persistent, so the Prince ran down the street with the bugs in pursuit. While he was running, he noticed a shop with medications to help fight itching in the window. Also, a snake crawled next to Pompa's leg, but the Prince noticed it just in time and jumped over the purple serpent.
The houses in the village seemed to be identical. However, after running for a while, Pompadore noticed a large castle made, like the houses, of purple brick, and no more attractive than the common dwellings. It was toward the castle that Pompa headed, for he suspected that the ruler of the village would probably be able to tell him the way to Pumperdink.
Prince Pompadore darted through the open doorway into the castle. He then tried to shut the heavy wooden double-doors, but they would not budge. Looking around the front room of the castle, the Prince realized that it was a waiting room. There was a long purplewood table covered with magazines and surrounded by chairs, but everything appeared to be old and chewed on. The chairs were being used, though. Large fleas were lying on them. The fleas were all asleep.
Many doors led out of the waiting room. All of them were made of purplewood, and all of them were open. One of them led to a Throne Room with a wooden throne. An old man with a golden crown on his head was seated on the throne. Pompadore walked up to the throne, bowed, and spoke to the man. "Hello! Do you know the way to Pumperdink, your Highness?" he asked.
The man inspected Pompadore with wide-open eyes. "You'd better leave Itchville immediately!" he exclaimed. "If you stay past noon, it will be too late."
"What do you mean?" Pompa asked the old man.
"What time is it?" inquired the man mysteriously.
"Eight o' clock," replied Pompadore, after looking at his pocket-watch.
"Very well," said the man. "I shall tell you my story. Would you like to hear it?"
"Yes, I would," was the Prince's reply.
"Well," began the old man, "my name is Pilgoft and once, I lived in Pumperdink. That was many years ago, when Ozroar was King of Oz."
"I'm Pompadore, Prince of Pumperdink," stated Pompa, "and I'm pleased to meet a fellow Pumperdinkian. I wasn't in Pumperdink when you were, though, because I wasn't born until the Wizard's reign."
"No, there was no Prince of Pumperdink when I lived there," agreed Pilgoft. "King Pompus was young and unmarried. Are you King Pompus's son?"
"Yes," answered Pompa. Then he asked, "Was Kabumpo in Pumperdink when you were?"
"Kabumpo?" asked the puzzled Itchvillian.
"He's an Elegant Elephant," explained the Prince.
"Elephant?"
"Never mind. I suppose he wasn't there."
"I left Pumperdink," continued Pilgoft, "hoping to found my own Kingdom. At that time, this area was beautiful and I decided to build a village here that I would be the King of. With the help of some loyal Gillikins, I built this castle and the surrounding houses.
"I ruled this village for a while, but Oz was more dangerous then than it is now. Evil magicians would often curse people and places just for fun. One came to this village and placed a curse on it. The curse turned the village into the place it is today. Not only that, but anyone who stayed past noon would not be able to leave. The doors of the buildings magically remained open, letting the creatures go where they wanted to. The gates opened to allow outsiders to enter, but locked automatically after the outsider entered, so that the outsider could not leave and had to stay until noon. Since the curse was put on the village, life here in Itchville, as we now call this place, has been extremely boring. People spend all day scratching their itches. We can't sleep, because the itching is too uncomfortable, and we can't eat, because there is no food."
"Did the curse give you your strange arms, too?" inquired Pompa.
"No," was the answer. "A fairy visited this village and, not being able to lift the curse, created our special arms, scratching posts, and medication shop. She then left this village with her magic and is the only being that ever escaped Itchville."
"But if the gate's locked," said Pompa in a worried voice, "I'll have to stay here forever."
"I'm afraid so. But it won't be that bad. You'll get used to the itching and we can talk about how Pumperdink and Oz have changed."
Pompadore definitely did not want to stay in Itchville forever. Besides, the Pumperdinkian Royal Family would be worried about him and Kabumpo could be in danger. So, the Prince of Pumperdink tried to think of a way to escape.
"Couldn't I climb the gate?" asked the Prince.
"No," was Pilgoft's reply. "It is an electrical gate. And if you're thinking of climbing the wall, forget it. It's too high and there's nothing to hold on to."
"What about climbing a tree and jumping down? I'd be hurt, but it would be worth it."
Pilgoft shook his head. "No trees are near the wall, and no trees are taller than the wall."
While Pompadore was thinking, a giant mosquito flew into the room and attempted to bite Pompadore.
"Stop that!" yelled the Prince, dodging the big bug.
"But I'm hungry," complained the insect.
"Well, you don't have to eat people."
"Yes, I do," was the reply. "I can fly to the top of the wall, but I can't leave Itchville because of that magician's curse."
"Would you like to leave Itchville?" asked the Prince, who had thought of an idea.
"Absolutely. I've heard that mosquitoes in the Emerald City eat like kings without having to bite people. I'd go there. All of the other creatures here would like to escape, too."
"Well, if you and some other mosquitoes would carry me to the top of the wall, I'll ask Ozma and the Wizard of Oz to lift the curse on Itchville. Then everyone could get out of this village and find new homes."
"Good idea! I'll summon some of the other mosquitoes and we'll carry you up right away."
The mosquito made a call in Mosquito-ese, after which a large swarm of giant mosquitoes flew into the Throne Room. The mosquito gave instructions to the other mosquitoes. Following these directions, many mosquitoes lifted Pompa into the air and flew with him toward the high wall surrounding Itchville. The insects left the Prince on top of the wall.
After the bugs had left, Pompadore looked down at the purple ground. The distance to the ground was extremely great, but Pompa, realizing that there was no other way out of Itchville, closed his eyes tightly and jumped down. He knew that he, being an Ozite, would not die upon reaching the ground, but probably would experience severe pain. However, the Prince did not even hit the ground, since he fell into a large hole located just next to the wall of Itchville.
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