Читать книгу Удивительный волшебник из Страны Оз / The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Лаймен Фрэнк Баум, Lyman Frank Baum, Edith Van Dyne - Страница 5

After a few hours the road began to be rough, and it was difficult to walk. Some bricks were broken or missing altogether. Toto was jumping across the holes in the road and Dorothy walked around. As for the Scarecrow, having no brains, he walked straight ahead, and so stepped into the holes and fell at full length on the hard bricks. It didn’t hurt him, however, and Dorothy would pick him up and set him upon his feet again.

The farms here were not nearly as well cared as before. There were fewer houses and fewer fruit trees.

At noon they sat down by the roadside, near a little brook, and Dorothy opened her basket and got out some bread. She offered a piece to the Scarecrow, but he refused.

“I am never hungry,” he said.

Dorothy nodded and went on eating her bread.

“Tell me something about yourself and the country you came from,” said the Scarecrow, when she had finished her dinner. So she told him all about Kansas, and how gray everything was there, and how the cyclone had carried her to the Land of Oz.

The Scarecrow listened carefully, and said, “I cannot understand why you want to leave this beautiful country and go back to Kansas.”

“No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, there is no place like home.”

The Scarecrow sighed.

“I cannot understand it,” he said.

They went on. There were no fences at all by the roadside now, and the land was rough. Toward evening they came to a great forest, where the trees grew big and close together. It was almost dark under the trees, for the branches shut out the daylight; but the travelers did not stop, and went on into the forest.

“If this road goes in, it must come out,” said the Scarecrow, “and as the Emerald City is at the other end of the road. We must go wherever it leads us.”

“Anyone would know that,” said Dorothy.

“Certainly; that is why I know it,” returned the Scarecrow. “If it required brains to figure it out, I never should have said it.”

After an hour or so all the light faded away, and they found themselves in the darkness. Dorothy could not see at all, but Toto could, for some dogs see very well in the dark. The Scarecrow declared he could see as well as by day. So she took his arm and managed to get along fairly well.

“If you see any house, or any place where we can pass the night,” she said, “you must tell me.”

Soon after the Scarecrow stopped.

“I see a little cottage at the right of us,” he said, “built of logs and branches. Shall we go there?”

“Yes, indeed,” answered the child. “I am tired.”

The Scarecrow led her through the trees to the cottage. Inside, Dorothy found a bed of dried leaves in one corner. She lay down at once, and Toto lied down beside her. The Scarecrow, who was never tired, stood up in another corner and waited patiently until morning came.