Chapter SIX

Finally our friends came to a great stone castle with large gates in front of it. At one side of the gate was a great big soldier with a long gun and at the other side of the gate was a great big soldier with a long sword. “You can’t come through the gate!” the two soldiers shouted when they saw our friends.

“If you walk through the gate, I’ll have to cut off your ears!” the soldier with the long sword cried.

“I haven’t any ears,” Raggedy Andy laughed.

“Besides, the gate doesn’t open anyway,” the soldier with the gun said.

“If they won’t let us go through the gate, let’s walk around it,” Raggedy Ann said.

“There!” one soldier said to the other. “I knew they’d guess it!”

“How did you ever think to walk around the gate when you couldn’t walk through it?” one soldier asked.

“Because there isn’t any fence on the sides of the gate!” Raggedy Ann laughed. Then the door opened and all walked right into the castle.

When Raggedy Ann, who came last had entered the castle, the great door closed behind her. Then the rug they were standing upon tipped down, so that Raggedy Andy, Marggy and her Mama and Raggedy Ann all went scooting down a slippery slide. Down, down they went, ever so fast, under the castle and when they came to the end, there they were on the road with the castle in back of them.

“I’m glad we didn’t have to stay in the castle,” Raggedy Andy said. “For who knows? It might have been a magical castle and we might have had to stay there for ever and ever!”

At the side of the road sat an old man. He sat upon a hard stone and he was knitting sox. After they had all said, “Good morning” to the old man, Marggy’s Mama asked him, “Is this a magician’s castle?”

“Yes, indeed it is!” the old man replied. “I’m trying my best to get in, for the Magician has a very magical canary bird of mine which sings beautiful songs all day long.”

“Maybe you can climb up the slippery slide.”

“No, I can’t do that!” the old man said. “For you see, the slippery slide is too steep and slippery. I’ll tell you a secret though, if you promise not to tell anyone.”

“We promise!” Marggy said.

“Well, the secret is this,” the old man whispered. “I’m knitting sixteen pair of sox and when I have them finished I shall unravel them and tie a stone to one end of the yarn. Then I’ll throw the stone up to one of the windows and the stone will go behind one of the iron bars in front of the window and bounce out again. Then I will let the stone pull the yarn down until it touches the ground. I’ll tie a rope to the yarn and pull the rope up to the window, then I’ll climb up there and get in. Isn’t that a nice secret? Do not tell anyone!”

“Oh, no, we won’t,” Raggedy Ann said. “But,” she added, “have you thought that if you used the yarn before you knitted it into sox, you wouldn’t have the trouble of unraveling it?”

“Dear me, no! I never thought of that!” the old man replied. “I’ve been sitting here for nine months knitting the sox and I am on the last one!”

“And then, too,” Raggedy Ann wanted to know. “Even if you climbed up to the window, how would you get through the iron bars?”

“I am afraid I did not think of that either!” the old man sighed.

“And have you thought that maybe you can walk right into the front door if you go around there?” Raggedy Andy asked.

“No sir! I never thought of that either!”

“Have you thought of eating since you started knitting the sox?” Marggy’s Mama asked.

“Dear me! I’ve been so busy, I forgot that too!”

“Then I’ll tell you what I would do if I were you,” Marggy’s Mama said as she gave the old man eight cream puffs and nine doughnuts. “I’d eat these, then I’d run home to my mama as fast as I could scamper.”

“Oh, thank you!” the old man chuckled. “I’ll run home to mama right away. I’d forgotten her. Maybe she will be hungry too.” And away he went, lickety split through the woods.

“Well, well, well!” Raggedy Ann laughed as she watched the funny old man run away. “He has gone and left the sox he has been working on so long!”

Marggy’s Mama picked up the sox and put them in her basket. “If we pass his house I will hand them to him.”

“Here he comes running back!” Marggy cried. “Isn’t he funny?”

“Hello!” he cried as he came up to our friends. “Do you know where I was running to? I was running as hard as I could through the woods when all of a sudden I wondered what I was running for. So I came back to ask you!”

“You were taking the doughnuts and cream puffs home to give to your mama,” Marggy’s Mama explained.

“Oh! So I was!” the funny old man said. “Well sir, I have eaten all the doughnuts and cream puffs!”

“That is too bad!” Raggedy Ann said. “For you told us your mama might be very hungry while you had been away nine months knitting the sox!”

“Dear me! So I did!” the old man admitted. “I must hurry back and get the sox and then hurry right home before I forget it!”

“Wait a moment!” Raggedy Ann cried as the funny old man started to run, “Marggy’s Mama has your sox in her basket, so you will not have to run back!”

“Then I must run home as fast as I can and see how my mama is, she may be very hungry.”

“Now we will hurry after him and see where his home is for if he has been away for nine months, his mama will be very, very hungry and will like our doughnuts and cream puffs,” Raggedy Ann said thoughtfully.

Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and Marggy and her Mama caught hold of hands and ran after the funny little man until they saw him run into a queer little house. Smoke was coming out of the chimney and when they walked up to the door a nice little old lady came to meet them. “Come right in!” she cried cheerily. “My husband told me you might be along pretty soon, and as I have been making some candy covered cup cakes, I would like you to come in and have some with lemonade.” And she took Raggedy Ann and her friends into the dining room and gave them all they could eat and drink. When they had finished, the funny old man’s wife asked, “Why has Mr. Felix got that piece of red yarn tied around his nose?”

Raggedy Ann laughed. “Why! Mrs. Felix, hasn’t he told you?”

“No!” Mrs. Felix replied. “He had forgotten by the time he reached home!”

“Then I’ll tell you why he has it tied around his nose,” Raggedy Ann said. “We met him back by the castle and gave him some cream puffs and doughnuts to bring home to you, for he told us he had not been home for nine months. You see, we thought you might be hungry, so we tied the yarn around his nose so he wouldn’t forget to run right straight home!”

“Dear me!” Mrs. Felix sighed, “I do not know what to do for Mr. Felix. He forgets everything. Why just an hour ago I sent him down to the grocery to get a loaf of bread and a pound of bacon and you found him sitting along the road. I guess he forgot that I sent him to the store!”

“No! I didn’t forget to go to the store,” Mr. Felix said. “But I forgot what you sent me for, so I bought fifteen pairs of sox and some yarn and knitting needles.”

“And he told us he was knitting the sox himself!” Marggy said.

“Dear me, what can I do with him?” Mrs. Felix cried. “When he was a little boy he used to tell fibs and as an excuse for telling fibs he would say, ‘I forgot’ until he told it so many times he finally got so he really did forget, and now he cannot remember anything!”

“My goodness!” Raggedy Ann said, “I am glad there are not many children like him; for think how queer it would be to have them grow up and not be able to remember anything!”

“Maybe you can cure him of forgetting by making him go without his supper and see if he is hungry enough in the morning to remember it. Then if he forgets, make him go without his dinner and see if he forgets that!” Marggy said.

“Oh my! He would never forget anything like that!” Mrs. Felix laughed. “It’s just the other things he forgets.”

“Then I believe a good paddywhacking would be the best thing for him,” Raggedy Ann laughed.

“Just the thing!” Mrs. Felix cried as she seized the pancake paddle and before he had time to run, Mr. Felix found himself across Mrs. Felix’s knees and was being paddywhacked real hard.

“Now will you remember not to forget?” Mrs. Felix asked.

“Indeed I will!” Mr. Felix replied as he wiped his forehead with his pocket hanky, and to prove that he remembered not to forget, Mr. Felix repeated every single thing he had told Raggedy Ann back near the castle in the woods.

“I’ll bet a nickel I never, never forget again,” Mr. Felix said. “Never, never, for it isn’t any fun being paddywhacked with a pancake paddle, I can tell you!”

“We asked Mr. Felix who lived in the castle and he told us a Magician lived there,” Raggedy Ann said.

“Yes, that is true,” Mrs. Felix said. “Didn’t you run in to see him when you passed?”

“We went in,” Raggedy Andy laughed, “But we hardly stepped inside the door before we slid down a slippery slide and went scooting out on this side!”

“Then if the Magician is a kindly Magician, what do you say if we go to see him? He may be able to tell us where Marggy’s Daddy is,” Raggedy Ann said.

Marggy and her Mama thought this would be a good plan. “And,” Marggy’s Mama said. “Even if we should slide down the slippery slide again, it is a lot of fun!”

So thanking Mrs. Felix for the nice cup cakes and lemonade, our friends returned to the gate where the two soldiers stood guard.

“Hello!” Raggedy Ann cried in her cheeriest voice. “We wish to go in and visit the Magician.”

“Alright!” one of the soldiers said. “But you will have to walk around the gate, because you know it doesn’t open!”

“Thank you!” Raggedy Ann said. “When we went in the door before, we dropped through the floor and went scooting down a slippery slide, way under the castle!”

One of the soldiers came up to Raggedy Ann and whispered, “Don’t tell a soul, Raggedy Ann!” he said. “It’s a secret. When you go in the castle, you must go around to the side door. Everyone who goes in the front door, falls down and scoots on the slippery slide!”

“Did you ever see Marggy’s Daddy walking along here?” Raggedy Andy asked one of the soldiers.

“I don’t believe so,” the soldier replied. “But when you go inside, you ask the Magician. He knows ever and ever so much!”

So the Raggedys thanked the kind soldiers and walking around to the side door rang a little bell. In answer to the bell, the door was opened a crack and a long nose was poked out. “Who is it?” the owner of the long nose asked.

Raggedy Ann named over all in the little party, then said, “We wish to ask the Magician if he knows where Marggy’s Daddy is, her Daddy has been lost a long, long time.”

“Wait a moment!” the long nosed person said. “I will run and ask the Magician!”

Presently the long nosed man returned. “The Magician says that he knows where Marggy’s Daddy is, but he will not tell unless you do something for him!”

“What does he wish us to do for him?” Raggedy Andy wanted to know.

“The Magician will tell you!” the long nosed man said as he opened the door and they followed him down a long hall.

In a large room, sitting upon a throne was a queer little man with long whiskers. This was the Magician who owned the castle. He greeted our friends by tipping his crown. “Hello!” he said. “If you want to find Marggy’s Daddy, you must do something for me first! That’s the way they always do things in fairy tales.”

“But this isn’t a fairy tale,” Raggedy Ann said.

“Of course it is!” the magician laughed. “How can two rag dolls walk and talk unless it is a fairy tale. So I want you to go out and bring me back a dragon, then maybe I can think of something else for you to do!”

Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy whispered together, then Raggedy Andy asked, “If I bring you a dragon, what will you do with him?”

“I do not know,” the Magician answered. “I never had a dragon, but I’ve read of them in fairy tales and every great Magician really needs a dragon around his castle. I ’spect though, I would have to keep him in a chicken coop to keep him from eating people!”

“I believe I can bring you a dragon,” Raggedy Andy said. “But it will be a very nice, kind Dragon who does not eat people, so if you will promise that you won’t put him in a cage, but let him live here in the castle with you until he gets ready to leave, I will go and hunt for him.”

“All right,” the Magician promised.

So Raggedy Andy filled his pockets with doughnuts from Marggy’s Mama’s basket and started out the door.

“Wait a moment!” the Magician cried. “You mustn’t go to fight a Dragon without a sword.” And he handed Raggedy Andy a wooden sword.

“Do you really believe Raggedy Andy will bring back a Dragon?” the Magician asked as he motioned Raggedy Ann and Marggy and her Mama to take seats near him.

“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he brought back a nice fat Dragon,” Raggedy Ann laughed and winked one of her shoe button eyes at Marggy’s Mama. Then the Magician clapped his hands and two servants came in with trays of ice cream sodas.

When Raggedy Andy left Raggedy Ann and Marggy and her Mama at the castle of the Magician, he ran with his wooden sword through the woods back to where they left the paper Dragon. “Yoo hoo!” Raggedy Andy called in his loudest Raggedy voice. But call as loud as he could, the paper Dragon did not reply.

“That’s funny,” Raggedy Andy cried. “I wonder what has become of the Dragon?”

“I’ll tell you where the paper Dragon is,” a little Gnome said as he walked up to Raggedy Andy. “After you left, Mr. Doodle came and dragged the paper Dragon home.”

“Dear me,” Raggedy Andy sighed. “Now we shall never be able to find Marggy’s Daddy.”

“I’m afraid not!” the little Gnome said. “For I heard Mr. Doodle tell Mrs. Doodle that he would make a chicken coop out of the Dragon.”

“If Mr. Doodle has broken up that lovely, kindly, paper Dragon to make a chicken coop, I don’t know what I shall do to Mr. Doodle,” promised Raggedy Andy.

“Then maybe you had better hurry to Mr. Doodle’s house as soon as you can,” advised the little Gnome. “If that sword was given you by the Magician,” the little Gnome added, “It must be a magic sword, so get on it just like you would a hobby horse and see if it doesn’t carry you along faster than you can run on your cotton stuffed legs.”

Raggedy Andy was greatly surprised, but when he straddled the magic wooden sword and held his feet off the ground, the wooden sword went sailing along above the ground a lot faster than Raggedy Andy could run. And while the wooden sword carried him along toward Mr. Doodle’s house, Raggedy Andy ate the doughnuts he had brought along, because he knew if he had to fight Mr. Doodle he would need lots of strength. And of course doughnuts are very good to give you strength, if you do not eat too many of them.

Raggedy Andy felt sure he could coax the kind paper Dragon to return with him to the Magician’s castle.

The magic sword soon carried Raggedy Andy right to Mr. Doodle’s front door.

Raggedy Andy took the wooden sword and knocked on Mr. Doodle’s front door. Bang! Bang! Bang! But no one answered. So Raggedy Andy walked out in back of the fence and there was Mr. and Mrs. Doodle and the paper Dragon.

Mr. Doodle had tied the paper Dragon to stakes and was trying to drive all his chickens in the paper Dragon’s mouth, but the chickens did not care to go in the paper Dragon, because they thought the Dragon would eat them, and the paper Dragon did not wish the chickens inside his paper body any more than the chickens wanted to be there, so the paper Dragon tried his best to growl and frighten the chickens. Mr. Doodle had put a stick in the paper Dragon’s mouth and this kept the Dragon from growling as loud as Dragons usually growl.

Mrs. Doodle shooed the chickens and Mr. Doodle shooed the chickens and the paper Dragon did not like it even a teeny weeny bit, so you bet he was very glad when Raggedy Andy walked up and asked in a loud stern voice, “What are you doing with that Dragon, Mr. Doodle?”

“I’m making a chicken coop out of the Dragon, that’s what!” Mr. Doodle replied.

“And I’ve come to rescue the Dragon, that’s what, Mr. Doodle!” Raggedy Andy said.

“But I shan’t let you rescue him!” Mr. Doodle shouted quite loud.

“And I say, I SHALL RESCUE HIM!” Raggedy Andy shouted still louder.

Neither one knew what to do next until Mrs. Doodle went in the house and brought out tea and cinnamon toast. “I will think of a way to fight pretty soon,” Mr. Doodle promised as he passed the tea and toast to Raggedy Andy.

After they had finished eating and had wiped the cinnamon from around their mouths, Raggedy Andy knew it was time to rescue the Dragon, so he said to Mr. Doodle, “Maybe you don’t know it, but this wooden sword I carry is a very magical wooden sword. The Magician gave it to me, so that I could bring the Dragon to his castle. Now if I should crack you on top of your head with the sword, it will make a large bump and you will not be able to wear your hat, it will hurt so much.”

“Then maybe I had better let you rescue the Dragon,” said Mr. Doodle.

“I believe that will be the best way to do,” Raggedy Andy replied. “And anyway the chickens do not care to go inside a Dragon chicken coop.”

“Indeed, that is true,” Mr. Doodle agreed. So Raggedy Andy cut all the ropes which held the paper Dragon, and the paper Dragon was so thankful, he wiggled all over and would have licked Raggedy Andy’s hand, only whoever made the paper Dragon, forgot to make him a paper tongue, so he couldn’t even lick a postage stamp.

“We’d better be going,” Raggedy Andy told the Dragon. “The Magician wished me to bring you to the castle.”

“I’d rather be a chicken coop than have the Magician shut me up in a cage,” Mr. Doodle teased.

“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Raggedy Andy whispered. “He’s just peevish because I rescued you.”

“I know it,” the Dragon laughed. “And even if the Magician shuts me up in a cage, I’ll go with you anyway, because I shall be very glad to help you find Marggy’s Daddy.”

Raggedy Andy and the paper Dragon went through the woods towards the Magician’s castle. “It won’t be very long until we get there,” said Raggedy Andy.

“Maybe if you would ride upon my head, we could go a little faster,” the Dragon suggested. So Raggedy Andy climbed upon the Dragon’s head and the Dragon wiggled through the woods, lickety split. The paper Dragon was very long; his head was very far in front of his tail, and so when the Dragon suddenly stopped, Raggedy Andy flew right off the Dragon’s head and lit upon the soft ground.

“Why did you stop?” Raggedy Andy asked.

“I believe my tail is fastened on a stick,” the Dragon replied.

Raggedy Andy could not see whether the Dragon’s tail was fastened on a stick or not, so he ran back to look.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! That’s the time I fooled you!” cried Mr. Doodle.

Yes, sir, it was him! He had run after Raggedy Andy and the Dragon and now, there he sat upon a stone and laughed.

“Why did you fasten the Dragon’s tail on a stick?” Raggedy Andy asked.

“I didn’t fasten his tail to a stick!” shouted Mr. Doodle. “I want the paper Dragon for a chicken coop, so I put salt on his tail!”

“Dear me! that was very unkind of you!” Raggedy Andy cried, for you see he knew very well that the way to catch Dragons is to put salt upon their tails.

But it isn’t nice to have someone else put salt upon a Dragon’s tail when that Dragon is a nice friendly Dragon, for a Dragon can’t even wiggle a smidgin when it has salt upon its tail. Raggedy Andy sat down beside Mr. Doodle and tried to think of a way to rescue the Dragon again. And while he sat there and thought, he nibbled on one of his doughnuts, and seeing that Mr. Doodle looked hungry, Raggedy Andy gave Mr. Doodle a doughnut too. For, it is best to be generous and unselfish, even to those who are unkind to us.

“If I don’t take the Dragon to the Magician’s castle, the Magician will not tell us where Marggy’s Daddy is,” Raggedy Andy told Mr. Doodle.

“I know it,” Mr. Doodle replied as he nibbled the doughnut. “But if you take the Dragon to the Magician’s castle, then don’t you see, I shall be unable to make the paper Dragon into a chicken coop.”

“The paper Dragon will not make a very good chicken coop,” Raggedy Andy said.

“Cause why?” Mr. Doodle wanted to know.

“Because,” Raggedy Andy explained. “Some time when the chickens are walking into the paper Dragon’s mouth, the paper Dragon will bite them.”

“Ha, ha, ha!” Mr. Doodle laughed. “I’ll prop the Dragon’s mouth open with a long stick, so that he won’t bite the chickens.”

“If you do that, Mr. Doodle, all the chickens will walk right out of his mouth, cause it will always be open.”

But just as Raggedy Andy and Mr. Doodle finished eating their doughnuts Raggedy Andy had an idea. “When Mr. Doodle put salt upon the Dragon’s tail, the Dragon could not move,” he thought to himself. “So if I want to rescue the nice Dragon, I must brush the salt off his tail!”

So Raggedy Andy said to Mr. Doodle, “How much salt did you put on the Dragon’s tail, Mr. Doodle?”

“You can see how much,” Mr. Doodle replied as he pointed to the pile of salt on the Dragon’s tail.

“Why didn’t you put more on his tail?”

“Because that is all the salt I had with me!”

This was what Raggedy Andy wanted to know for Raggedy Andy knew if he brushed the salt off the Dragon’s tail, the Dragon would be able to wiggle away through the woods.

“You stay here and eat this doughnut,” Raggedy Andy said to Mr. Doodle. “While I go up to the Dragon’s head and see if he feels all right.”

“Do not stay too long,” Mr. Doodle said. “For just as soon as I eat this doughnut, I shall take the Dragon home.”

So Raggedy Andy ran up to the Dragon’s head and said to him, “Now if I can, I shall fool Mr. Doodle and brush all the salt off your tail. So as soon as you feel all the salt brushed off, you must wiggle through the woods to the Magician’s castle just as fast as you can wiggle, and I will hop upon the magic wooden sword the Magician gave me and we will escape from Mr. Doodle.”

The paper Dragon promised that he would wiggle as fast as he had ever wiggled before, so Raggedy Andy walked back to Mr. Doodle at the Dragon’s tail.

“So you think that you can fool me some way and brush the salt off the Dragon’s tail, do you?” Mr. Doodle asked when Raggedy Andy came up.

“How in the world did you guess it?” Raggedy Andy asked.

Mr. Doodle laughed. “When you talked to the paper Dragon’s head, I listened at his tail, and because the paper Dragon is hollow all the way down I could hear just as plain as if you talked through a pipe.”

“Then I guess there is no way for me to fool you, Mr. Doodle,” Raggedy Andy said in a sad voice.

“You can’t fool me very easy, that is sure,” Mr. Doodle replied as he brushed the doughnut crumbs away from his mouth.

“Did you ever see a hippopotamus up in a tree, Mr. Doodle?” Raggedy Andy asked as he looked up in the tree above him.

“No! I never did, Raggedy Andy! And what’s more, I never will see a hippopotamus up in a tree!” Mr. Doodle replied.

“And that is true, Mr. Doodle, if you never look up in trees,” Raggedy Andy said. “For how can you expect to see a hippopotamus up in a tree, if you do not look?” And as Mr. Doodle was very anxious to see a hippopotamus up a tree, he looked up.

“I don’t see him at all,” he said.

“Neither do I, Mr. Doodle.” And as he said this, Raggedy Andy reached over and brushed every speck of salt off the Dragon’s tail, and away went the paper Dragon through the woods towards the Magician’s castle as fast as he could wiggle. When Raggedy Andy jumped upon the magic wooden sword and told the magic wooden sword to follow the paper Dragon, the magic wooden sword did not budge a speck.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Mr. Doodle laughed when Raggedy Andy looked surprised. “The magic wooden sword will not carry you away, because I tied a string to the wooden sword and to that stump!”

“If I only had a knife, I would cut the string!” Raggedy Andy laughed although he felt very disappointed.

“Now you have made me lose the paper Dragon,” Mr. Doodle said. “So instead of making a chicken coop out of the paper Dragon, as I wished to do, I shall take you home and make you build me a chicken coop out of boards!”

Raggedy Andy did not know what else to say, so he said to Mr. Doodle, “I don’t believe I can go back to your house and build a chicken coop today, because I’m too busy.”

But Mr. Doodle only laughed real loud. “It won’t do any good for you to tell me you are too busy today to build me a chicken coop!” Mr. Doodle cried as he dragged Raggedy Andy home and tied him with a string near the wood pile. “Now while I go in the house and eat my dinner, you can start building the chicken coop.” And he gave Raggedy Andy a saw and a hammer and a lot of nails. “And if you don’t have the chicken coop finished when I get through my dinner I shall paddywhack you,” Mr. Doodle promised.

So Raggedy Andy sawed the boards and nailed them together. Then he happened to think, “I can saw the string in two and run to where Mr. Doodle has the wooden sword tied to the stump and saw the string which holds the magic wooden sword.” Raggedy Andy had just finished sawing the string with which Mr. Doodle had tied him, when Mr. Doodle came running out of his house.

“That’s the time I fooled you!” Raggedy Andy cried as he ran with the saw through the woods. When he came to where the magic wooden sword was tied to the stump, Raggedy Andy cut the strings. And just as Mr. Doodle ran up to catch him, Raggedy Andy jumped on the magic sword and cried, “Magic wooden sword, carry me after the paper Dragon to the Magician’s castle!” And the magic wooden sword flew over the ground so fast Mr. Doodle was left far behind.