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He opened the big box, and Dorothy
saw that it was filled with spectacles of every size and shape. All of
them had green glasses in them. The Guardian of the Gates found a pair
that would just fit Dorothy and put them over her eyes. There were two
golden bands fastened to them that passed around the back of her head,
where they were locked together by a little key that was at the end of a
chain the Guardian of the Gates wore around his neck. When they were on,
Dorothy could not take them off had she wished, but of course she did not
wish to be blinded by the glare of the Emerald City, so she said
nothing.
Then the green man fitted spectacles for
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion, and even on little Toto;
and all were locked fast with the key.
Then the
Guardian of the Gates put on his own glasses and told them he was ready to
show them to the Palace. Taking a big golden key from a peg on the wall,
he opened another gate, and they all followed him through the portal into
the streets of the Emerald City.
Even with eyes
protected by the green spectacles, Dorothy and her friends were at first
dazzled by the brilliancy of the wonderful City. The streets were lined
with beautiful houses all built of green marble and studded everywhere
with sparkling emeralds. They walked over a pavement of the same green
marble, and where the blocks were joined together were rows of emeralds,
set closely, and glittering in the brightness of the sun. The window panes
were of green glass; even the sky above the City had a green tint, and the
rays of the sun were green.
There were many
people--men, women, and children--walking about, and these were all
dressed in green clothes and had greenish skins. They looked at Dorothy
and her strangely assorted company with wondering eyes, and the children
all ran away and hid behind their mothers when they saw the Lion; but no
one spoke to them. Many shops stood in the street, and Dorothy saw that
everything in them was green. Green candy and green pop corn were offered
for sale, as well as green shoes, green hats, and green clothes of all
sorts. At one place a man was selling green lemonade, and when the
children bought it Dorothy could see that they paid for it with green
pennies.
There seemed to be no horses nor animals
of any kind; the men carried things around in little green carts, which
they pushed before them. Everyone seemed happy and contented and
prosperous.
The Guardian of the Gates led them
through the streets until they came to a big building, exactly in the
middle of the City, which was the Palace of Oz, the Great Wizard. There
was a soldier before the door, dressed in a green uniform and wearing a
long green beard.
"Here are strangers," said the
Guardian of the Gates to him, "and they demand to see the Great
Oz."