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''Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, Billina the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, Tik-Tok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein'' published on July 30, 1907, was the third book of L. Frank Baum's Oz series. It was the first in which Baum was clearly intending a series of Oz books.〔Peter Glassman, "Afterword," p 271 L. Frank Baum, ''Ozma of Oz'', ISBN 0-688-06632-1〕 It is the first Oz book where the majority of the action takes place outside of the Land of Oz. Only the final two chapters take place in Oz itself.〔Michael O. Riley, ''Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum'', p 135, ISBN 0-7006-0832-X〕 This reflects a subtle change in theme: in the first book, Oz is the dangerous land through which Dorothy must win her way back to Kansas; in the third, Oz is the end and aim of the book.〔Michael O. Riley, ''Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum'', p 137, ISBN 0-7006-0832-X〕 Dorothy's desire to return home is not as desperate as in the first book, and it is her uncle's need for her rather than hers for him that makes her return.〔Peter Glassman, "Afterword," p 271 L. Frank Baum, ''Ozma of Oz'', ISBN 0-688-06632-1〕 It was illustrated throughout in color by artist John R. Neill. The book bore the following dedication: "To all the boys and girls who read my stories – and especially to the Dorothys – this book is lovingly dedicated." ==Plot summary== It has been five years since ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' took place. And Uncle Henry has been ordered by his doctor to take a vacation from the stress and labor of having to replace the Kansas farmhouse due to the first one being swept away in a cyclone. He is accompanied by his adolescent niece, Dorothy Gale (this is the first of the Oz books in which the reader learns her last name), while aboard a small steamship headed to Australia while Aunt Em and Dorothy's pet dog Toto, stay behind to look after the newly built farmhouse. While traveling on the sea, a terrible storm suddenly hits, bringing rain and lightning, tossing the little ship violently over the waves. Henry and Dorothy are separated when she is accidentally thrown overboard and cast away into the water along with Billina, a yellow hen that was also on board. The two take refuge in a wooden chicken-coop floating nearby. The next morning Dorothy and Billina wash ashore to an unknown region. Once on dry land, Dorothy picks something to eat from a lunch-box tree. She guesses that they are in a "fairy country" because lunch boxes do not grow on trees in ordinary countries, and only in a fairy country would an animal like Billina be able to talk. However, Dorothy knows they are not in the Land of Oz because that continent has no coastline. After the meal they come across a message inscribed in the sand: "BEWARE THE WHEELERS"! Soon they meet these gaudily dressed, loud-yelling baddies who have wheels instead of hands and feet, and roll around on all fours. Dorothy and Billina climb a small rocky mountain to escape them and find a door carved into its side. Having found the key by the door, they open it and find Tik-Tok, a round copper mechanical man whom they activate by winding up all three of his clockwork motors (one each for thinking, motion and speech) with the key like a wind-up toy. Tik-Tok informs Dorothy and Billina that they are in the Land of Ev, which has recently lost its royal family due to the King of Ev selling them off to the evil Nome King who rules in a neighboring kingdom. Afterwards, the King regretted what he had done and in despair jumped off a cliff into the sea and was drowned. Tik-Tok protects Dorothy and Billina from the Wheelers and takes them to the royal residence where the head-exchanging Princess Langwidere resides. It turns out that Langwidere is the spoiled and highly vain niece of the deceased king of Ev. When Dorothy refuses to let Langwidere take her head to add to her collection of interchangeable heads, Langwidere has a tantrum and locks Dorothy in a high tower within the palace. Luckily, Princess Ozma and her Royal Court of Oz, (many of whom appeared in the two previous ''Oz'' books) just happen to cross over the Deadly Desert on a mission to free the royal family. Upon arriving Ozma has Dorothy and Billina and Tik-Tok released from Langwidere's custody. Cheerful reunions are had by the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion, and new introductions are made to Ozma and the Hungry Tiger, a massive tiger hamstrung by his conscience. The expedition journeys to the underground kingdom of the Nomes, where the Nome King reveals that he has cleverly turned the royal family into decor ornaments around his underground palace. The Oz people are given the option to guess which of the Nome King's many ornaments they are (he does not reveal that they are royal purple ones), but if they fail to guess correctly, they will also become ornaments themselves. Ozma, the twenty-seven soldiers of the Royal Army of Oz, including the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and Tik-Tok all suffer this bizarre fate. Dorothy escapes it only by luckily touching a purple ornament in one of her guesses. When the guests from Oz retire one night, Billina sleeps under the King's throne and overhears the King telling his chief steward which of the Nome King's ornaments were once people. She also learns that the King's magic powers reside in the Magic Belt that he wears. Billina was originally not going to be allowed to guess, but she so infuriates the Nome King by laying an egg (poisonous to any Nome) under his throne that he orders her to take her chances of being transformed by guessing. Since she knows the secret of the Evian royal family's transformations, all of her guesses turn out to be right. The Nome King refuses to honor his promise to let the Oz people and the Ev royal family go; he commands his army to recapture all of them by force. Dorothy takes his magic belt, and routs his army by transforming the foremost rank of soldiers into eggs. After returning the royal family of Ev (the queen mother, five boys, and five girls) to their rightful forms and place, Ozma, Dorothy, and the others finally return to the country of Oz where a great victory celebration is held in the Emerald City's royal palace. Dorothy is officially made a Princess of Oz, Billina elects to remain in Oz, and Ozma uses the magic belt to send Dorothy to Australia where she is happily reunited with her Uncle Henry. 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「Ozma of Oz」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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