【英】《绿野仙踪》 第4集：The Rescue of the Tin Woodman

The road became harder to walk on. Sometimes the yellow bricks were broken or missing and the Scarecrow, having no brains, fell over them. Dorothy would pick him up and they would both laugh.

There were fewer houses and fruit trees as they walked along. At noon they stopped to rest. Dorothy pulled bread from her basket. The Scarecrow explained he was never hungry. 

“Tell me about yourself and your country,”he said to Dorothy.

She told him about Kansas and how gray it was and how the cyclone brought her to Oz. The Scarecrow could not understand why she’d want to leave beautiful Oz for such a gray place.

“That’s because you have no brains,” she said. 
“There is no place like home. Now, will you tell me a story?”

The Scarecrow said, “I was only made the day before yesterday. Luckily the farmer painted my ears first so I could hear. The farmer painted my face and said I would scare crows fast and that I was just like a man. I agreed with him.

“When he walked away, I did not like to be left alone, but I could not get down from the pole. After a while, crows came and ate the corn. One said, ‘The farmer thought to fool us, but any crow could see you are only stuffed with straw.’”

The Scarecrow added, “I felt sad, but the crow said, ‘If only you had brains. They are the only thing worth having in this world.’”

Dorothy smiled when he said it was good luck that she came along to take him off the stick.

“I’m sure the Great Oz will give me brains.”
“I hope so,” Dorothy said.

That evening they came to a huge forest full of big trees. Their branches covered the road. Soon they found themselves in darkness. The Scarecrow said he could see the same in the dark or day, so Dorothy took hold of his arm.

When the Scarecrow saw a little cottage, they went inside. Dorothy and Toto lay down on a bed of dried leaves and fell asleep. The Scarecrow, who was never tired, stood in a corner and waited patiently until morning. 

When Dorothy woke, she told the Scarecrow they needed to search for water.

“Why?” he asked.
“To wash my face and to drink,” Dorothy said.

They found a spring nearby. Dorothy drank and ate. There was not much bread left in the basket and Dorothy was glad the Scarecrow did not eat.

As they went back to the yellow brick road, she heard a groan from behind them. They walked through the trees and found something shining in a ray of sunshine. Dorothy stopped with a shout of surprise.

Standing beside a tree that was partly chopped down was a man made of tin. He held an ax raised in his hands. He did not move.

Dorothy and the Scarecrow stared at him while Toto barked.

“Did you groan?” asked Dorothy.
“Yes,” answered the tin man. “I’ve been groaning for more than a year for help.”

Dorothy listened to his sad voice. “What can I do?”

“Get an oilcan and oil my joints,” he said. “They rusted and I cannot move. There is an oilcan in my cottage.”

Dorothy found the oilcan and ran back.

“Oil my neck first,” said the Tin Woodman. She did and the Scarecrow carefully moved the man’s head from side to side.

“Now oil the joints in my arms,” he said.

The Tin Woodman sighed as the Scarecrow bent them until he could lower his ax.

“I’ve been holding that ax ever since I rusted. 
Please oil my legs,” he said.

Soon he could move. He thanked them again and again. “I might have stood there forever if you didn’t come along and save my life.”

“We are on our way to Oz,” Dorothy said. “I want him to send me back to Kansas and the Scarecrow wants brains in his head.”

“Do you think he could give me a heart?” the Tin Woodman asked.

Dorothy said if he could help the Scarecrow, why not the Tin Woodman, too?

The Tin Woodman decided he would travel with them. The Scarecrow and Dorothy were happy to have him.

“Will you keep my oilcan in your basket?” he asked Dorothy. “If I get caught in rain, I will rust again.”

When they came to a place where the tree branches were too thick, the Tin Woodman chopped a way through them. When the Scarecrow fell, the Woodman asked why he didn’t walk around the hole.

“My head is full of straw,” the Scarecrow said.

“Brains aren’t the best thing in the world,” the Tin Woodman said. “Once I had brains and a heart. I would rather have the heart.”

As they walked through the forest, the Tin Woodman told them his story.

“I was born the son of a woodman. After my father died, I took care of my mother until she died. Then I decided to marry so I wouldn’t be lonely. 

I fell in love with a beautiful Munchkin girl. She promised to marry me if I built a better house. But the old woman she lived with didn’t want her to marry anyone, so she went to the Wicked Witch of the East. The Witch put a spell on my ax and it slipped and cut off my left leg.”

The Tin Woodman showed them his leg. “I went to a tinsmith and had him make me a new leg. The Wicked Witch had promised the old woman I wouldn’t marry the girl. As I chopped, my ax slipped and cut off my right leg. I went to the tinner for another tin leg. Then the enchanted ax cut off my arms and I had them replaced with tin. Then the Witch made the ax slip and cut off my head. The tinner came along and made me a new head of tin.

“I thought I beat the Witch then and I worked harder. But she found a new, cruel way to kill my love for the beautiful Munchkin girl. The ax cut right through my body. The tinner came to help. He fastened my tin arms and legs and head to the body of tin. But, now I had no heart and lost all my love for the girl. I did not care if I married.”Dorothy gasped.

“My body shone bright in the sun and I was proud of it,” the Tin Woodman continued. “The only danger was that my joints would rust, so I kept an oilcan in the cottage. One day, I forgot to oil my joints and was caught in a rainstorm. I was left in the woods until you came to help.

“As I waited, I had time to think that the greatest loss I ever had was my heart. I was the happiest man on earth while I was in love, but no one can love someone who doesn’t have a heart. If Oz will give me a new heart—”

“I will still ask for brains instead of a heart,” the Scarecrow said. “A fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one.”

“I would rather have the heart,” said the Tin Woodman. “Brains do not make a person happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.”

Dorothy wasn’t sure which of her friends was right. She decided if she could get back to Kansas and Aunt Em, it didn’t matter if the Woodman or Scarecrow got what they wanted.

What worried her most was that the bread was gone. She knew the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman didn’t eat anything, but she and Toto weren’t made of tin or straw and could not live if they didn’t have food.