Chapter Six

KIKI AND THE NOME IN THE BIG FOREST

There is a very big forest in the middle of the Land of Oz. The animals call it 'Gugu Forest', because the King of this forest is the big yellow leopard Gugu.

All the animals of the Land of Oz live in this forest. There are hundreds and hundreds of them there. Gugu, the Leopard has three friends who help him to rule the forest: the Bear, the Wolf and the Grey Monkey. They are very strong and clever. The other animals in the forest are afraid of them. They obey them and do what the Leopard, the Wolf and the Grey Monkey want them to do.

One morning two eagles flew high over the forest. In the middle of the forest the eagles flew down and sat in a tall tree.

"Here we shall begin our work," said one eagle. It was the Nome King. You remember him of course, don't you?

"Are there many animals here?" asked Kiki.

"The forest is full of them," answered the Nome. "We must go to them and tell them about our plans. I hope they will like them and will help us to conquer the people of Oz. But first we must change into animals."

"What animals shall we become?" asked Kiki.

"I think," said the Nome, "that we must not look like other animals." 1

"What animals must we become?" asked Kiki again.

"Let us have the heads of lions, the bodies of monkeys, the wings of eagles," said the Nome.

"I think that we shall be very strange animals," answered the boy.

 

 

Are you afraid to look strange?" 2 asked the Nome.

"All right," said Kiki "You stay here and I shall fly away to another tree and say my magic word"

No,' said the Nome. "You must not fly away from me Make your magic here."

"No," cried Kiki, "I shall not do that. You want to know my secret. But I shall not tell you my magic word."

The Nome was very angry with Kiki. But he said aloud:

"All right! Do as you like." 3

The Nome was afraid of Kiki. "He must not be angry with me," 4 he thought, "or he will not change my form, and I shall always be an eagle. And I don't want that. Some day I shall know his secret and then..."

Kiki flew to a tree from which the Nome could not hear him. He said: "The Nome King and I must have the heads of lions, the bodies of monkeys and the wings of eagles: Pyrzqxgl."

At once his form changed. He became a strange animal with the head of a lion, the body of a monkey, and the wings of an eagle.

Kiki flew down to the Nome who was now a strange animal too. He looked like Kiki. And they flew down to the ground.

 

 

1 we must not look like other animals — мы не должны быть похожи на других животных

2 are you afraid to look strange? - Ты что, боишься казаться странным?

3 Do as you like. — Поступай как хочешь.

4 He must not be angry with me — Он не должен рассердиться на меня