"Look," said Elephant to the leader of the marshmallow people. "I am a
huge animal. My body will keep those crocodiles fed for weeks. While
Tweaty here, and Hootsey and Lisa, are tiny creatures. The crocodiles
would not even taste them. Why don't you let them go?"
"Hmmmm," murmured the marshmallow leader. "You have a point there. In
fact, the crocodiles could get quite annoyed with us for feeding them
such tiny morsels. Okay. We'll let them go. But what about her?" he
said, pointing to Ozma. "She would be quite a delicacy."
"Delicacy?" echoed Ozma. "I am not a delicacy. I am Ozma, Queen of Oz!"
The marshmallow man looked at the child and giggled. "You are the Queen
of something? Yeah, right! And I suppose that next you're going to tell
me that mortal men will one day be able to travel to the moon and back.
Ha! That's a laugh!"
"But it's true!" argued Elephant. "Ozma is the ruler of Oz."
"Indeed," added Lisa. "I'll admit, I was also a little shaken when I
first learned that the Queen of Oz was a little girl. But you must
understand that Ozma is of Fairy descent. She is not like a mortal child
at all. She has special abilities and powers that..."
[Illustration: Elephant and others in Cages]
"Silence!" shouted the marshmallow man.
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