Guide and release
Chapter 23 · paragraphs 1–22 Full readingOriginal 1900 novel · Project Gutenberg eBook 55 · Chapter 23 · paragraphs 1–22
1Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints. When they were all quite presentable they followed the soldier girl into a big room where the Witch Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies. She was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich red in color and fell in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her dress was pure white but her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly upon the little girl. “What can I do for you, my child?” she asked. Dorothy told the Witch all her story: how the cyclone had brought her to the Land of Oz, how she had found her companions, and of the wonderful adventures they had met with. “My greatest wish now,” she added, “is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last, I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it.” Glinda leaned forward and kissed the sweet, upturned face of the loving little girl. “Bless your dear heart,” she said, “I am sure I can tell you of a way to get back to Kansas.” Then she added, “But, if I do, you must give me the Golden Cap.” “Willingly!” exclaimed Dorothy; “indeed, it is of no use to me now, and when you have it you can command the Winged Monkeys three times.” “And I think I shall need their service just those three times,” answered Glinda, smiling.
2Dorothy then gave her the Golden Cap, and the Witch said to the Scarecrow, “What will you do when Dorothy has left us?” “I will return to the Emerald City,” he replied, “for Oz has made me its ruler and the people like me. The only thing that worries me is how to cross the hill of the Hammer-Heads.” “By means of the Golden Cap I shall command the Winged Monkeys to carry you to the gates of the Emerald City,” said Glinda, “for it would be a shame to deprive the people of so wonderful a ruler.” “Am I really wonderful?” asked the Scarecrow. “You are unusual,” replied Glinda. Turning to the Tin Woodman, she asked, “What will become of you when Dorothy leaves this country?” He leaned on his axe and thought a moment. Then he said, “The Winkies were very kind to me, and wanted me to rule over them after the Wicked Witch died. I am fond of the Winkies, and if I could get back again to the Country of the West, I should like nothing better than to rule over them forever.” “My second command to the Winged Monkeys,” said Glinda “will be that they carry you safely to the land of the Winkies. Your brain may not be so large to look at as those of the Scarecrow, but you are really brighter than he is—when you are well polished—and I am sure you will rule the Winkies wisely and well.” Then the Witch looked at the big, shaggy Lion and asked, “When Dorothy has returned to her own home, what will become of you?” “Over the hill of the Hammer-Heads,” he answered, “lies a grand old forest, and all the beasts that live there have made me their King. If I could only get back to this forest, I would pass my life very happily there.” “My third command to the Winged Monkeys,” said Glinda, “shall be to carry you to your forest. Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and his band may thereafter be free for evermore.” The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion now thanked the Good Witch earnestly for her kindness; and Dorothy exclaimed:
Decoded Meaning & consequence
Glinda recognizes the soul’s concrete relation to home
“My greatest wish now,” she added, “is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last, I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it.
Glinda is the attained guide who can disclose the talisman’s actual use. Dorothy explains her journey and the family’s material circumstances. Her wish concerns particular people, including the cost they would bear if they believed her dead.
Back to these wordsGlinda recognizes the soul’s concrete relation to home
Glinda is the attained guide who can disclose the talisman’s actual use. Dorothy explains her journey and the family’s material circumstances. Her wish concerns particular people, including the cost they would bear if they believed her dead.
The white garment and ruby throne join benevolent intention to effective sovereignty within the scene. Glinda receives Dorothy through kindness before revealing the method. Her power will become visible through what it enables others to do.
She asks for the cap in exchange for help. The exchange matters because her later action changes its binding relation. The guide receives the instrument of command in order to complete the obligations it carries.
The last commands restore the companions and end inherited bondage
free for evermore
Glinda uses the cap to return each companion to a chosen community. Thinking, feeling, and will acquire places where their developed capacities can serve. Their separation preserves relationship while ending the need to travel as one dependent group.
Back to these wordsThe last commands restore the companions and end inherited bondage
Glinda uses the cap to return each companion to a chosen community. Thinking, feeling, and will acquire places where their developed capacities can serve. Their separation preserves relationship while ending the need to travel as one dependent group.
She then promises the exhausted cap to the Monkey King. The binding ends, and the servants regain freedom beyond merely receiving kinder instructions. Benevolent command becomes complete through relinquishment of the right to command.
The guide’s practical distinction from the Wizard lies here. He preserved dependence through certification and appointment. Glinda explains a working means, arranges return, and abolishes the instrument that would keep other beings available as her servants.
Guide and release
Glinda connects the unknown inheritance to a usable action and a named destination. She also completes the cap’s history by ending its command over the monkeys. The guide’s authority becomes effective through freedom created for other beings.
Sources for this passage
L. Frank Baum · The Wonderful Wizard of OzChapter 23: Glinda The Good Witch Grants Dorothy’s Wish
Rudolf Steiner · Knowledge of Higher Worlds and its AttainmentChapter I · Conditions and Inner Tranquility
The known power of return
Chapter 23 · paragraphs 23–40 Full readingOriginal 1900 novel · Project Gutenberg eBook 55 · Chapter 23 · paragraphs 23–40
3“You are certainly as good as you are beautiful! But you have not yet told me how to get back to Kansas.” “Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert,” replied Glinda. “If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.” “But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!” cried the Scarecrow. “I might have passed my whole life in the farmer’s cornfield.” “And I should not have had my lovely heart,” said the Tin Woodman. “I might have stood and rusted in the forest till the end of the world.” “And I should have lived a coward forever,” declared the Lion, “and no beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say to me.” “This is all true,” said Dorothy, “and I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most desired, and each is happy in having a kingdom to rule besides, I think I should like to go back to Kansas.” “The Silver Shoes,” said the Good Witch, “have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in the wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go.” “If that is so,” said the child joyfully, “I will ask them to carry me back to Kansas at once.”
4She threw her arms around the Lion’s neck and kissed him, patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades. Glinda the Good stepped down from her ruby throne to give the little girl a good-bye kiss, and Dorothy thanked her for all the kindness she had shown to her friends and herself. Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and having said one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three times, saying: “Take me home to Aunt Em!” Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears. The Silver Shoes took but three steps, and then she stopped so suddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she knew where she was. At length, however, she sat up and looked about her. “Good gracious!” she cried. For she was sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, and just before her was the new farmhouse Uncle Henry built after the cyclone had carried away the old one. Uncle Henry was milking the cows in the barnyard, and Toto had jumped out of her arms and was running toward the barn, barking furiously. Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet. For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.
Decoded Meaning & consequence
The talisman’s power requires a known act and a definite destination
knock the heels together three times
The silver shoes carry the power of return across the desert. Dorothy has possessed them since arrival, but possession alone could not disclose their use. Glinda supplies the missing relation among object, gesture, command, and destination.
Back to these wordsThe talisman’s power requires a known act and a definite destination
The silver shoes carry the power of return across the desert. Dorothy has possessed them since arrival, but possession alone could not disclose their use. Glinda supplies the missing relation among object, gesture, command, and destination.
Three heel strikes join intention to a repeatable bodily action. The three instantaneous steps then carry the traveler beyond ordinary distance. The number organizes this particular rite; the story does not require an invented anatomical correspondence.
The companions affirm what the long journey made possible, although the shoes could have returned Dorothy earlier. Their liberation is a consequence of her passage. That consequence gives the delay meaning without making suffering a necessary price for every attainment.
The acquired power completes its work and leaves the traveler
lost forever in the desert
Dorothy names home through Aunt Em, holds Toto, and performs the disclosed act. The magical vehicle now serves a definite relationship instead of indefinite escape. Her companions remain free to inhabit their own countries.
Back to these wordsThe acquired power completes its work and leaves the traveler
Dorothy names home through Aunt Em, holds Toto, and performs the disclosed act. The magical vehicle now serves a definite relationship instead of indefinite escape. Her companions remain free to inhabit their own countries.
The shoes fall away during the return. The completed crossing does not depend on retaining a magical trophy as proof of identity. Dorothy reaches a rebuilt household with the living companion who kept affection available in the gray world.
The loss directs attention toward what the journey retained: relationship, judgment, and capacity to help. An initiatic object can finish its particular work without becoming a permanent possession. The remaining return occurs through meeting the family again.
The known power of return
Dorothy’s return separates the group without undoing its care. Each companion enters a chosen life, and the talisman disappears after carrying the child home. The journey’s retained knowledge must now live without the shoes.
Sources for this passage
L. Frank Baum · The Wonderful Wizard of OzChapter 23: Glinda The Good Witch Grants Dorothy’s Wish
Rudolf Steiner · Knowledge of Higher Worlds and its AttainmentChapter I · Conditions and Inner Tranquility
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