Just at dawn next morning Unc Nunkie laid his handtenderly on Ojo's head and awakened him.

"Come," he said.

Ojo dressed. He wore blue silk stockings, blueknee pants with gold buckles, a blue ruffledwaist and a jacket of bright blue braided withgold. His shoes were of blue leather and turned upat the toes, which were pointed. His hat had apeaked crown and a flat brim, and around the brimwas a row of tiny golden bells that tinkled whenhe moved. This was the native costume of thosewho inhabited the Munchkin Country of the Land ofOz, so Unc Nunkie's dress was much like that ofhis nephew. Instead of shoes, the old man woreboots with turnover tops and his blue coat hadwide cuffs of gold braid.

The boy noticed that his uncle had not eatenthe bread, and supposed the old man had notbeen hungry. Ojo was hungry, though; so hedivided the piece of bread upon the table andate his half for breakfast, washing it down withfresh, cool water from the brook. Unc put theother piece of bread in his jacket pocket, afterwhich he again said, as he walked out throughthe doorway: "Come."

Ojo was well pleased. He was dreadfullytired of living all alone in the woods and wantedto travel and see people. For a long time he hadwished to explore the beautiful Land of Ozin which they lived. When they were outside,Unc simply latched the door and started up thepath. No one would disturb their little house,even if anyone came so far into the thick forestwhile they were gone.

At the foot of the mountain that separated theCountry of the Munchkins from the Country of theGillikins, the path divided. One way led to theleft and the other to the right--straight up themountain. Unc Nunkie took this right--hand path andOjo followed without asking why. He knew it wouldtake them to the house of the Crooked Magician,whom he had never seen but who was their nearestneighbor.

All the morning they trudged up the mountain pathand at noon Unc and Ojo sat on a fallen tree-trunkand ate the last of the bread which the oldMunchkin had placed in his pocket. Then theystarted on again and two hours later came in sightof the house of Dr. Pipt.

It was a big house, round, as were all theMunchkin houses, and painted blue, which is thedistinctive color of the Munchkin Country of Oz.There was a pretty garden around the house, whereblue trees and blue flowers grew in abundance andin one place were beds of blue cabbages, bluecarrots and blue lettuce, all of which weredelicious to eat. In Dr. Pipt's garden grew bun-trees, cake-trees, cream-puff bushes, bluebuttercups which yielded excellent blue butter anda row of chocolate-caramel plants. Paths of bluegravel divided the vegetable and flower beds and awider path led up to the front door. The place wasin a clearing on the mountain, but a little wayoff was the grim forest, which completelysurrounded it.

Unc knocked at the door of the house anda chubby, pleasant-faced woman, dressed all inblue, opened it and greeted the visitors with asmile.

"Ah," said Ojo; "you must be Dame Margolotte,the good wife of Dr. Pipt."

"I am, my dear, and all strangers are welcometo my home."

"May we see the famous Magician, Madam?"

"He is very busy just now," she said, shakingher head doubtfully. "But come in and let megive you something to eat, for you must havetraveled far in order to get our lonely place."

"We have," replied Ojo, as he and Unc enteredthe house. "We have come from a far lonelier placethan this."

"A lonelier place! And in the Munchkin Country?"she exclaimed. "Then it must be somewhere in theBlue Forest."

"It is, good Dame Margolotte."

"Dear me!" she said, looking at the man, "youmust be Unc Nunkie, known as the Silent One." Thenshe looked at the boy. "And you must be Ojo theUnlucky," she added.

"Yes," said Unc.

"I never knew I was called the Unlucky,"said Ojo, soberly; "but it is really a good namefor me."

"Well," remarked the woman, as she bustledaround the room and set the table and brought foodfrom the cupboard, "you were unlucky to live allalone in that dismal forest, which is much worsethan the forest around here; but perhaps your luckwill change, now you are away from it. If, duringyour travels, you can manage to lose that 'Un' atthe beginning of your name Unlucky,' you willthen become Ojo the Lucky, which will be a greatimprovement."

"How can I lose that 'Un,' Dame Margolotte?"

"I do not know how, but you must keep thematter in mind and perhaps the chance willcome to you," she replied.

Ojo had never eaten such a fine meal in allhis life. There was a savory stew, smoking hot,a dish of blue peas, a bowl of sweet milk of adelicate blue tint and a blue pudding with blueplums in it. When the visitors had eaten heartilyof this fare the woman said to them:

"Do you wish to see Dr. Pipt on business orfor pleasure?"

Unc shook his head.

"We are traveling," replied Ojo, "and westopped at your house just to rest and refreshourselves. I do not think Unc Nunkie caresvery much to see the famous Crooked Magician;but for my part I am curious to look at sucha great man.

The woman seemed thoughtful.

"I remember that Unc Nunkie and my husband usedto be friends, many years ago," she said, "soperhaps they will be glad to meet again. TheMagician is very busy, as I said, but if you willpromise not to disturb him you may come into hisworkshop and watch him prepare a wonderful charm."

"Thank you," replied the boy, much pleased."I would like to do that."

She led the way to a great domed hall at theback of the house, which was the Magician'sworkshop. There was a row of windows extendingnearly around the sides of the circular room,which rendered the place very light, and there wasa back door in addition to the one leading to thefront part of the house. Before the row of windowsa broad seat was built and there were some chairsand benches in the room besides. At one end stooda great fireplace, in which a blue log was blazingwith a blue flame, and over the fire hung fourkettles in a row, all bubbling and steaming at agreat rate. The Magician was stirring all four ofthese kettles at the same time, two with hishands and two with his feet, to the latter, woodenladles being strapped, for this man was so verycrooked that his legs were as handy as his arms.

Unc Nunkie came forward to greet his oldfriend, but not being able to shake either hishands or his feet, which were all occupied instirring, he patted the Magician's bald head andasked: "What?"

"Ah, it's the Silent One," remarked Dr. Pipt,without looking up, "and he wants to knowwhat I'm making. Well, when it is quite finishedthis compound will be the wonderful Powderof Life, which no one knows how to make butmyself. Whenever it is sprinkled on anything,that thing will at once come to life, no matterwhat it is. It takes me several years to make thismagic Powder, but at this moment I am pleasedto say it is nearly done. You see, I am making itfor my good wife Margolotte, who wants to usesome of it for a purpose of her own. Sit downand make yourself comfortable, Unc Nunkie,and after I've finished my task I will talk toyou.

"You must know," said Margolottte, when theywere all seated together on the broad window-seat,"that my husband foolishly gave away all thePowder of Life he first made to old Mombi theWitch, who used to live in the Country of theGillikins, to the north of here. Mombi gave to Dr.Pipt a Powder of Perpetual Youth in exchange forhis Powder of Life, but she cheated him wickedly,for the Powder of Youth was no good and could workno magic at all."

"Perhaps the Powder of Life couldn't either,"said Ojo.

"Yes; it is perfection," she declared. "The firstlot we tested on our Glass Cat, which not onlybegan to live but has lived ever since. She'ssomewhere around the house now."

"A Glass Cat!" exclaimed Ojo, astonished.

"Yes; she makes a very pleasant companion, butadmires herself a little more than is consideredmodest, and she positively refuses to catch mice,"explained Margolotte. "My husband made the catsome pink brains, but they proved to be too high-bred and particular for a cat, so she thinks it isundignified in her to catch mice. Also she has apretty blood-red heart, but it is made of stone--aruby, I think--and so is rather hard and unfeeling.I think the next Class Cat the Magician makes willhave neither brains nor heart, for then it willnot object to catching mice and may prove of someuse to us."

"What did old Mombi the Witch do with thePowder of Life your husband gave her?" askedthe boy.

"She brought Jack Pumpkinhead to life, forone thing," was the reply. "I suppose you'veheard of jack Pumpkinhead. He is now livingnear the Emerald City and is a great favoritewith the Princess Ozma, who rules all the Landof Oz."

"No; I've never heard of him," remarkedOjo. "I'm afraid I don't know much about theLand of Oz. You see, I've lived all my life withUnc Nunkie, the Silent One, and there was noone to tell me anything."

"That is one reason you are Ojo the Unlucky,"said the woman, in a sympathetic tone. "The moreone knows, the luckier he is, for knowledge is thegreatest gift in life."

"But tell me, please, what you intend to doWith this new lot of the Powder of Life, whichDr. Pipt is making. He said his wife wanted itfor some especial purpose.

"So I do," she answered. "I want it to bringmy Patchwork Girl to life."

"Oh! A Patchwork Girl? What is that?" Ojoasked, for this seemed even more strange andunusual than a Glass Cat.

"I think I must show you my PatchworkGirl," said Margolotte, laughing at the boy'sastonishment, "for she is rather difficult toexplain. But first I will tell you that for manyyears I have longed for a servant to help me withthe housework and to cook the meals and wash thedishes. No servant will come here because theplace is so lonely and out-of-the-way, so myclever husband, the Crooked Magician, proposedthat I make a girl out of some sort of materialand he would make her live by sprinkling over herthe Powder of Life. This seemed an excellentsuggestion and at once Dr. Pipt set to work tomake a new batch of his magic powder. He has beenat it a long, long while, and so I have had plentyof time to make the girl. Yet that task was not soeasy as you may suppose. At first I couldn't thinkwhat to make her of, but finally in searchingthrough a chest I came across an old patchworkquilt, which my grandmother once made when she wasyoung.

"What is a patchwork quilt?" asked Ojo.

"A bed-quilt made of patches of different kindsand colors of cloth, all neatly sewed together.The patches are of all shapes and sizes, so apatchwork quilt is a very pretty and gorgeousthing to look at. Sometimes it is called a'crazyquilt,' because the patches and colors areso mixed up. We never have used my grand-mother'smanycolored patchwork quilt, hand-some as it is,for we Munchkins do not care for any color otherthan blue, so it has been packed away in the chestfor about a hundred years. When I found it, I saidto myself that it would do nicely for my servantgirl, for when she was brought to life she wouldnot be proud nor haughty, as the Glass Cat is, forsuch a dreadful mixture of colors would discourageher from trying to, be as dignified as the blueMunchkins are.

"Is blue the only respectable color, then?"inquired Ojo.

"Yes, for a Munchkin. All our country is blue,you know. But in other parts of Oz the peoplefavor different colors. At the Emerald City,where our Princess Ozma lives, green is thepopular color. But all Munchkins prefer blueto anything else and when my housework girlis brought to life she will find herself to be ofso many unpopular colors that she'll never darebe rebellious or impudent, as servants aresometimes liable to be when they are made the sameway their mistresses are."

Unc Nunkie nodded approval.

"Good idea," he said; and that was a longspeech for Unc Nunkie because it was twowords.

"So I cut up the quilt," continued Margolotte,"and made from it a very well-shaped girl,which I stuffed with cotton-wadding. I willshow you what a good job I did," and she wentto a tall cupboard and threw open the doors.

Then back she came, lugging in her arms thePatchwork Girl, which she set upon the benchand propped up so that the figure would nottumble over.