The Shaggy Man of Oz
Encyclopedia
The Shaggy Man of Oz is the thirty-eighth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum
and his successors, and the second and last by Jack Snow
. It was illustrated by Frank G. Kramer
.
In The Shaggy Man of Oz as in his previous book, The Magical Mimics in Oz
(1946), Snow returned to the Oz books of Baum for his inspiration and his conceptual framework. He avoided all use of characters and plot elements introduced in the Oz books of Ruth Plumly Thompson
and John R. Neill
, his predecessors in the post of "Royal Historian of Oz."
. (Far from concealing it, Snow made the relationship between the two books clear in his text.) For his second venture, Snow depended upon Baum's 1906 novel John Dough and the Cherub
. In both books, the protagonists escape an exotic but risky place (in Baum, the Island of Phreex; in Snow, Conjo's island) in a borrowed flying machine; they travel to other places from which, in turn, they again need to escape. Baum has a Palace of Romance, and Snow, a Valley of Romance. In Baum's Hiland, the people are tall and thin and live in tall thin houses — just as in Snow's Hightown. And in both novels, the heroes meet the King of the Fairy Beavers, who helps them to their final destination.
; they prefer to go by their nicknames, Twink and Tom. The twins enjoy watching cowboy serials on the family TV set, customized by their scientist father with its own wall-sized projection screen. While the twins are watching the TV one afternoon, the normal picture changes into a strangely beautiful scene with a castle in the background. They are confronted by a living toy clown, a duplicate of the familiar toy they have named Twoffle. This living version, who calls himself Twiffle, persuades them to walk into the screen before them; the two children find themselves magically transported into the scene.
Twiffle explains that he is a third cousin of the twins' toy, Twoffle; the two have had long conversations about Twink and Tom while the children have slept. Twiffle serves a sorcerer named Conjo; they are on Conjo's island in the Nonestic Ocean
, and are heading toward Conjo's castle.
Meanwhile, a problem has arisen in the Emerald City
in Oz
; the love magnet (introduced by Baum in his fifth Oz book, The Road to Oz
) had been hanging above the city's entrance gate, but has now fallen from its nail and broken in two. Princess Ozma
consults with the Shaggy Man
, who first brought the talisman to Oz; they determine that the magnet can be repaired only by the magician who created it — none other than Conjo. In the Magic Picture, they watch Twink and Tom approach Conjo's castle with Twiffle. Surprised at the presence of two human children, Ozma decides to send Shaggy there immediately to investigate. Ozma equips Shaggy with a magic compass that will return him to Oz whenever he chooses. (Ozma herself will be unavailable, sequestered with Glinda
the Good as they work on deep magics.)
Ozma transports Shaggy with her Magic Belt; he joins the children and Twiffle, much to their surprise. The four of them go to meet Conjo, who is short, fat, bald, and untrustworthy. Conjo agrees to repair the love magnet, though he wants Shaggy's magic compass in payment. The visitors stay the night; but Shaggy is awakened from sleep by a slight disturbance in his guest bedroom. He discovers that Conjo has repaired and surreptitiously returned the love magnet, but also has taken the magic compass. Twiffle insists that Conjo is not overtly evil, merely "selfish, lazy, and foolishly vain." Yet Conjo has lured the twins to his island to rob them of their memories and use them as his servants, which is malicious enough. Shaggy, Twink, Tom, and Twiffle escape from the island in Conjo's Airmobile.
They reach a sky country called Hightown, and the Airmobile is inadvertently lost, stranding them. They learn they can leave Hightown merely by swimming and walking down through the air, since gravity does not function in the place's vicinity. They next find their way to the Valley of Romance, where they stumble into a nightmare of incompetent amateur theater. Shaggy and Twink are bewitched into serving as cast members in an inept stage play. Tom and Twoffle manage to free them and break the spell of the place, by showing the love magnet to the Valley's king, queen, and assembled lords and ladies. (In Snow's narrative, the magnet has to be displayed to have its effect.)
Traveling again, the four encounter the King of the Fairy Beavers. The King agrees to help them reach Oz, if they invite him for a visit — and Shaggy is happy to oblige. The protagonists and their beaver companions make their way under the Deadly Desert
through the Nome King
's tunnel (see The Emerald City of Oz). They pass the barrier of invisibility that shields Oz from the outside world, and arrive in Oz — only to stumble into a crisis. Conjo has used the magic compass to reach Oz, where he grabs the Wizard's
black bag of magic and locks himself in the Wizard's laboratory. Conjo wants to supplant the Wizard and gain control of Oz for himself. The Fairy Beaver King defeats Conjo with his water magic, squirting a jet of water from the Forbidden Fountain into Conjo's mouth. The now amnesiac Conjo is easy to manage and reform; he is returned to his island in Twiffle's care, for re-education. Twink and Tom enjoy a pleasant stay in Oz before Ozma sends them home once again.
borrows Twink and Tom, and refers to Snow's book, in his short story "Abby."
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
and his successors, and the second and last by Jack Snow
Jack Snow (writer)
John Frederick "Jack" Snow was an American radio writer and scholar, primarily of the works of L. Frank Baum. When Baum died in 1919, the twelve-year-old Snow offered to be the next Royal Historian of Oz, but was politely turned down by a staffer at Baum's publisher, Reilly & Lee...
. It was illustrated by Frank G. Kramer
Frank Kramer (artist)
Frank Kramer was an American artist known chiefly for his illustrations forJack Snow's two Oz books, The Magical Mimics in Oz and The Shaggy Man of Oz, founded on and continuing the famous Oz stories by L. Frank Baum. He also illustrated Robert A...
.
In The Shaggy Man of Oz as in his previous book, The Magical Mimics in Oz
The Magical Mimics in Oz
The Magical Mimics in Oz is the thirty-seventh in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the first written by Jack Snow. It was illustrated by Frank G. Kramer.-A new "Royal Historian":...
(1946), Snow returned to the Oz books of Baum for his inspiration and his conceptual framework. He avoided all use of characters and plot elements introduced in the Oz books of Ruth Plumly Thompson
Ruth Plumly Thompson
Ruth Plumly Thompson was an American writer of children's stories.-Life and work:An avid reader of Baum's books and a lifelong children's writer, Thompson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began her writing career in 1914 when she took a job with the Philadelphia Public Ledger; she wrote...
and John R. Neill
John R. Neill
John Rea Neill was a magazine and children's book illustrator primarily known for illustrating more than forty stories set in the Land of Oz, including L. Frank Baum's, Ruth Plumly Thompson's, and three of his own. His pen-and-ink drawings have become identified almost exclusively with the Oz series...
, his predecessors in the post of "Royal Historian of Oz."
Shaggy Man and John Dough
For his first Oz book, Snow had relied heavily upon Baum's The Emerald City of OzThe Emerald City of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz is the sixth of L. Frank Baum's fourteen Land of Oz books. It was also adapted into a Canadian animated film in 1987. Originally published on July 20, 1910, it is the story of Dorothy Gale and her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em coming to live in Oz permanently...
. (Far from concealing it, Snow made the relationship between the two books clear in his text.) For his second venture, Snow depended upon Baum's 1906 novel John Dough and the Cherub
John Dough and the Cherub
John Dough and the Cherub is a children's fantasy novel written by L. Frank Baum, about a living gingerbread man and his adventures.-The book:...
. In both books, the protagonists escape an exotic but risky place (in Baum, the Island of Phreex; in Snow, Conjo's island) in a borrowed flying machine; they travel to other places from which, in turn, they again need to escape. Baum has a Palace of Romance, and Snow, a Valley of Romance. In Baum's Hiland, the people are tall and thin and live in tall thin houses — just as in Snow's Hightown. And in both novels, the heroes meet the King of the Fairy Beavers, who helps them to their final destination.
Modernizing
Though Snow relied on Baum's forty-year-old book for inspiration, he also faced a need to update the Oz enterprise. His first Oz book, launched in the post-World-War-II world, had not been a commercial success; "Oz books appeared oddly old fashioned and less compelling in an era of rocket engines and atomic bombs." The second book stands in marked contrast to the first in terms of its trappings of modernity. The child protagonists are a contemporary American boy and girl; their father, Professor Jones, teaches physics at a university. The professor owns an early-model television set, and moreover has modified it with a large projection screen of his own design. Conjo the magician has an aircraft — which flies not merely by "magic" but by anti-gravity plates. The episode in Hightown provides further consideration of gravity.Synopsis
Abbadiah and Zebbidiah Jones are twins from Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
; they prefer to go by their nicknames, Twink and Tom. The twins enjoy watching cowboy serials on the family TV set, customized by their scientist father with its own wall-sized projection screen. While the twins are watching the TV one afternoon, the normal picture changes into a strangely beautiful scene with a castle in the background. They are confronted by a living toy clown, a duplicate of the familiar toy they have named Twoffle. This living version, who calls himself Twiffle, persuades them to walk into the screen before them; the two children find themselves magically transported into the scene.
Twiffle explains that he is a third cousin of the twins' toy, Twoffle; the two have had long conversations about Twink and Tom while the children have slept. Twiffle serves a sorcerer named Conjo; they are on Conjo's island in the Nonestic Ocean
Nonestica
Nonestica, also known as the Continent of Imagination, is a fictional continent within L. Frank Baum's Oz universe on which the Land of Oz is located.-History:...
, and are heading toward Conjo's castle.
Meanwhile, a problem has arisen in the Emerald City
Emerald City
The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
in Oz
Land of Oz
Oz is a fantasy region containing four lands under the rule of one monarch.It was first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, one of many fantasy countries that he created for his books. It achieved a popularity that none of his other works attained, and after four years, he...
; the love magnet (introduced by Baum in his fifth Oz book, The Road to Oz
The Road to Oz
The Road to Oz: In Which Is Related How Dorothy Gale of Kansas, The Shaggy Man, Button Bright, and Polychrome the Rainbow's Daughter Met on an Enchanted Road and Followed it All the Way to the Marvelous Land of Oz. is the fifth of L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz books...
) had been hanging above the city's entrance gate, but has now fallen from its nail and broken in two. Princess Ozma
Princess Ozma
Princess Ozma is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz .She is the rightful ruler of Oz, and L...
consults with the Shaggy Man
Shaggy Man
The Shaggy Man is a character in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. He first appeared in the book The Road to Oz in 1909.He is a kindly old wanderer, dressed in rags, whose philosophy of life centers on love and an aversion to material possessions. His one possession of value is the Love Magnet...
, who first brought the talisman to Oz; they determine that the magnet can be repaired only by the magician who created it — none other than Conjo. In the Magic Picture, they watch Twink and Tom approach Conjo's castle with Twiffle. Surprised at the presence of two human children, Ozma decides to send Shaggy there immediately to investigate. Ozma equips Shaggy with a magic compass that will return him to Oz whenever he chooses. (Ozma herself will be unavailable, sequestered with Glinda
Glinda
Glinda is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.- Literature :Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
the Good as they work on deep magics.)
Ozma transports Shaggy with her Magic Belt; he joins the children and Twiffle, much to their surprise. The four of them go to meet Conjo, who is short, fat, bald, and untrustworthy. Conjo agrees to repair the love magnet, though he wants Shaggy's magic compass in payment. The visitors stay the night; but Shaggy is awakened from sleep by a slight disturbance in his guest bedroom. He discovers that Conjo has repaired and surreptitiously returned the love magnet, but also has taken the magic compass. Twiffle insists that Conjo is not overtly evil, merely "selfish, lazy, and foolishly vain." Yet Conjo has lured the twins to his island to rob them of their memories and use them as his servants, which is malicious enough. Shaggy, Twink, Tom, and Twiffle escape from the island in Conjo's Airmobile.
They reach a sky country called Hightown, and the Airmobile is inadvertently lost, stranding them. They learn they can leave Hightown merely by swimming and walking down through the air, since gravity does not function in the place's vicinity. They next find their way to the Valley of Romance, where they stumble into a nightmare of incompetent amateur theater. Shaggy and Twink are bewitched into serving as cast members in an inept stage play. Tom and Twoffle manage to free them and break the spell of the place, by showing the love magnet to the Valley's king, queen, and assembled lords and ladies. (In Snow's narrative, the magnet has to be displayed to have its effect.)
Traveling again, the four encounter the King of the Fairy Beavers. The King agrees to help them reach Oz, if they invite him for a visit — and Shaggy is happy to oblige. The protagonists and their beaver companions make their way under the Deadly Desert
Deadly Desert
The Deadly Desert is the magical desert that completely surrounds the fictional Land of Oz. On maps, the Eastern quadrant of the desert is called the Deadly Desert, while the other three quadrants of desert are called the Shifting Sands, the Impassable Desert, and the Great Sandy Waste.The desert...
through the Nome King
Nome King
The Nome King is a fictional character in L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Although the Wicked Witch of the West is the most famous of Oz's villains , the Nome King is the closest the book series has to a main antagonist.-In the novels:The character called the Nome King is originally named Roquat the Red...
's tunnel (see The Emerald City of Oz). They pass the barrier of invisibility that shields Oz from the outside world, and arrive in Oz — only to stumble into a crisis. Conjo has used the magic compass to reach Oz, where he grabs the Wizard's
Wizard (Oz)
The Wizard of Oz, known during his reign as The Great and Powerful Oz, is the epithet of Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L...
black bag of magic and locks himself in the Wizard's laboratory. Conjo wants to supplant the Wizard and gain control of Oz for himself. The Fairy Beaver King defeats Conjo with his water magic, squirting a jet of water from the Forbidden Fountain into Conjo's mouth. The now amnesiac Conjo is easy to manage and reform; he is returned to his island in Twiffle's care, for re-education. Twink and Tom enjoy a pleasant stay in Oz before Ozma sends them home once again.
A derivation
Eric ShanowerEric Shanower
Eric James Shanower is an American comics artist and writer, best known for his Oz novels and comics and the on-going retelling of the Trojan War as Age of Bronze.-Biography:...
borrows Twink and Tom, and refers to Snow's book, in his short story "Abby."