Удивительный волшебник из Страны Оз / The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

“We must go and search for water,” she said to him.

“Why do you want water?” he asked.

“To wash my face clean after the dust of the road, and to drink.”

“It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh,” said the Scarecrow thoughtfully, “for you must sleep, and eat and drink. However, you have brains, and it is worth a lot.”

They left the cottage and walked through the trees until they found a little spring of clear water, where Dorothy drank and bathed and ate her breakfast. She saw there was not much bread left in the basket, and the girl was thankful the Scarecrow did not have to eat anything.

When she had finished her meal, and was about to go back to the road of yellow brick, she heard a deep groan nearby.

“What was that?” she asked.

“I cannot imagine,” replied the Scarecrow; “but we can go and see.”

Just then they heard another groan. They turned and walked through the forest a few steps, when Dorothy saw something shining in a ray of sunshine that fell between the trees.

She ran to the place and then stopped, with a little cry of surprise.

One of the big trees had been partly chopped through, and standing beside it, with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a man made entirely of tin. He stood perfectly motionless, as if he could not move at all.

Dorothy looked at him in amazement, and so did the Scarecrow, while Toto barked loudly.

“Did you groan?” asked Dorothy.

“Yes,” answered the tin man, “I did.

I’ve been groaning for more than a year, and no one has ever heard me before or come to help me.”

“What can I do for you?” she asked.

“Get an oil-can and oil my joints,” he answered. “They are rusted so badly that I cannot move them at all. You will find an oil-can on a shelf in my cottage.”

Dorothy at once ran back to the cottage and found the oil-can, and then returned.

“Oil my neck, first,” replied the Tin Woodman. So she oiled it.

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

And Dorothy oiled them and the Scarecrow bent them carefully until they were free from rust.

The Tin Woodman gave a sigh of satisfaction and lowered his axe, which he leaned against the tree.

“This is a great comfort,” he said. “I have been holding that axe in the air ever since I rusted, and I’m glad to be able to put it down at last. Now, if you will oil the joints of my legs, I shall be all right once more.