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The Deadly Desert is the magically cursed desert that completely surrounds all four corners of the fictional Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum in his classic children's series of Oz books. This desert cuts the country of Oz off entirely from the rest of the world, thus keeping the enchanted realm and its inhabitants safe from possible discovery and invasion. On Oz's official map, the desert by the western Winkie Country is called the "''Deadly Desert''", while the desert by the eastern Munchkin Country is named the "''Shifting Sands''". The desert near the northern Gillikin Country is known as the "''Impassable Desert''", and in the southern Quadling Country it is referred to as the "''Great Sandy Waste''". Despite these different names, any living thing that dares to set foot over the edge of any of these four vast quadrants, will instantly turn into sand themselves. The Deadly Desert is an element used as a literary device to explain why Oz is essentially cut off from the rest of all the other continents. However, it has been crossed several times by people from within Oz and from the outside world, with applied ingenuity, with magical assistance, or through unusual natural phenomena. The desert was originally described as dangerous as any natural desert but no more. Indeed, in the ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), Dorothy Gale's charmed Silver Shoes are lost in this desert and are never recovered. In ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1904), Mombi uses her dark magic to try and escape through it but Glinda uses her good magic to chase her over the sands and catch her. In ''Ozma of Oz'' (1907), Princess Ozma uses a magic rug to cross over the desert to reach the neighboring kingdom of Ev. From thereafter it has officially become a magically cursed desert with life-destroying sands, a feature that remained constant through the rest of the series.〔Michael O. Riley, ''Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum'', p 139, ISBN 0-7006-0832-X〕 ==Notable crossings/killings== * Dorothy Gale is carried from Kansas into Oz in her farmhouse by a cyclone, and back over again by the power of the charmed Silver Shoes she obtained there. The shoes fall off during the magical flight through the air and are lost in the desert forever. * Oscar Diggs, who became the Wizard upon his unexpected arrival to Oz originally arrived by a circus balloon (which he implies functioned by a gas lighter than air, rather than hot air), and years later leaves Oz in a hot-air balloon of his own design. * Princess Ozma, the Child Queen of Oz, crosses the desert with her whole royal court to the neighboring land of Ev by use of an infinitely unrolling carpet provided by the magical aid of Glinda. * Dorothy Gale, Shaggy Man, Button Bright and Polychrome cross the desert into Oz by use of a ship that sails over the sands. * The evil Nome King dug a tunnel underneath the desert to reach the kingdom of Oz in an attempt to conquer it. * In the 1985 film ''Return to Oz'', Dorothy Gale crosses the edge of the desert by stepping upon stones. Later the pack of Wheelers fail to get across the Deadly Desert in pursuit of Dorothy and her flying sofa, who cross the desert to reach the Nome King's mountain. Six of the Wheelers accidentally role into the desert and are subsequently turned into sand and killed. The seven remaining Wheelers later return with Princess Mombi and cross the desert through the tunnel dug underneath the desert to reach the kingdom of Nomes. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Deadly Desert」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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