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Summary: Chapter XIII: The Rescue

After Dorothy frees the Lion from captivity, she tells the Winkies they are no longer enslaved. Dorothy then asks the Winkies for their help finding and rescuing the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow. First, the Winkies locate the Tin Woodman and repair his dented body and broken axe. Then the Tin Woodman helps them rescue the Scarecrow by chopping down the tree on which the Scarecrow’s clothes are scattered, and the Winkies restuff him. Dorothy and her companions stay to enjoy life with the Winkies for a few days but still feel eager to get back to the Emerald City so the Great Oz can fulfill his promises to them. Before the travelers set off for the Emerald City, the Winkies reveal that they wish the Tin Woodman would stay as their ruler, and they give each of the travelers departing gifts made of gold and jewels. Dorothy also takes the Wicked Witch of the West’s Golden Cap, which fits her perfectly.

Summary: Chapter XIV: The Winged Monkeys 

Dorothy and her companions don’t know the way back to the Emerald City. They walk without direction and start to lose hope. Dorothy realizes the field mice can help, and she calls them with the whistle their Queen gave her. The Queen of the Field Mice tells Dorothy the Emerald City is far off, and she recommends using the Golden Cap to call the Winged Monkeys to carry them the rest of the way. 

The Monkeys obey Dorothy’s request as she now owns the Cap. The King of the Monkeys transports Dorothy and tells her how the Monkeys became captives. He explains that, as a joke, the rascally Monkeys once dropped Quelala, the fiancé of the princess and good sorceress Gayelette, in a river, dressed in all his finery. The prank angered Gayelette, and she punished the Monkeys by requiring them to obey three requests from each owner of the Golden Cap. Quelala, the first owner of the Cap, banished the Monkeys to the forest. Later when the Wicked Witch of the West acquired the Cap, she used the Monkeys to enslave the Winkies and force the Great Oz to leave the West.

Analysis: Chapters XIII–XIV

With the Wicked Witch gone, Dorothy learns more about the homes of the creatures who were once her enemies, bringing the theme of home and belonging into focus. The Winkies, now free, wish for the Tin Woodman to remain with them now that they are leaderless in their own land.  The Flying Monkeys, once terrible enemies, explain how they were originally enslaved and banished from their homeland to the forest. As Dorothy gets closer to her goal of getting home to Kansas, she learns more about the importance of home to the creatures of Oz, realizing that everyone has a place where they belong.

This section touches on the book’s motif of color and the powers and mysteries each color represents. The country of the Winkies is identified with the color yellow, in contrast to the blue of the Munchkins and the green of the Emerald City. Dorothy learns the power of the Golden Cap and uses that power to get back to the Emerald City from the West. The magical nature of this golden object foreshadows the power that Dorothy already has in the silver shoes she wears. Just like the Cap, the shoes are magical, as proved earlier by the Wicked Witch’s desire to possess them. In this colorful land of Oz, each color relates to a location, a group, or the magic of the place itself.

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