frightened and got out of my way. Whenever I've met a man I've been awfully scared; but I 
just roared at him, and he has always run away as fast as he could go. If the elephants 
and the tigers and the bears had ever tried to fight me, I should have run myself-I'm 
such a coward; but just as soon as they hear me roar they all try to get away from me, 
and of course I let them go."
  "But that isn't right. The King of Beasts shouldn't be a coward," said the Scarecrow.
  "I know it," returned the Lion, wiping a tear from his eye with the tip of his tail. 
"It is my great sorrow, and makes my life very unhappy. But whenever there is danger, my 
heart begins to beat fast."
  "Perhaps you have heart disease," said the Tin Woodman.
  "It may be," said the Lion.
  "If you have," continued the Tin Woodman, "you ought to be glad, for it proves you have 
a heart. For my part, I have no heart; so I cannot have heart disease."
  "Perhaps," said the Lion thoughtfully, "if I had no heart I should not be a coward."
  "Have you brains?" asked the Scarecrow.
  "I suppose so. I've never looked to see," replied the Lion.
  "I am going to the Great Oz to ask him to give me some," remarked the Scarecrow, "for 
my head is stuffed with straw."
  "And I am going to ask him to give me a heart," said the Woodman.
  "And I am going to ask him to send Toto and me back to Kansas," added Dorothy.
  "Do you think Oz could give me courage?" asked the Cowardly Lion.
  "Just as easily as he could give me brains," said the Scarecrow.
  "Or give me a heart," said the Tin Woodman.
  "Or send me back to Kansas," said Dorothy.
  "Then, if you don't mind, I'll go with you," said the Lion, "for my life is simply 
unbearable without a bit of courage."
  "You will be very welcome," answered Dorothy, "for you will help to keep away the other 
wild beasts. It seems to me they must be more cowardly than you are if they allow you to 
scare them so easily."
  "They really are," said the Lion, "but that doesn't make me any braver, and as long as 
I know myself to be a coward I shall be unhappy." So once more the little company set off 
upon the journey, the Lion walking with stately strides at Dorothy's side. Toto did not 
approve this new comrade at first, for he could not forget how nearly he had been crushed 
between the Lion's great jaws. But after a time he became more at ease, and presently 
Toto and the Cowardly Lion had grown to be good friends.
  During the rest of that day there was no other adventure to mar the peace of their 
journey. Once, indeed, the Tin Woodman stepped upon a beetle that was crawling along the 
road, and killed the poor little thing. This made the Tin Woodman very unhappy, for he 
was always careful not to hurt any living creature; and as he walked along he wept 
several tears of sorrow and regret. These tears ran slowly down his face and over the 
hinges of his jaw, and there they rusted. When Dorothy presently asked him a question the 
Tin Woodman could not open his mouth, for his jaws were tightly rusted together. He 
became greatly frightened at this and made many motions to Dorothy to relieve him, but 
she could not understand. The Lion was also puzzled to know what was wrong.
  But the Scarecrow seized the oil-can from Dorothy's basket and oiled the Woodman's 
jaws, so that after a few moments he could talk as well as before.
  "This will serve me a lesson," said he, "to look where I step.
  For if I should kill another bug or beetle I should surely cry again, and crying rusts 
my jaws so that I cannot speak." Thereafter he walked very carefully, with his eyes on 
the road, and when he saw a tiny ant toiling by he would step over it, so as not to harm 
it. The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care 
never to be cruel or unkind to anything.
  "You people with hearts," he said, "have something to guide you, and need never do 
wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful. When Oz gives me a heart of 
course I needn't mind so much."
  
  
  
  7. The Journey to the Great Oz 
  They were obliged to camp out that night under a large tree in the forest, for there 
were no houses near. The tree made a good, thick covering to protect them from the dew, 
and the Tin Woodman chopped a great pile of wood with his axe and Dorothy built a 
splendid fire that warmed her and made her feel less lonely. She and Toto ate the last of 
their bread, and now she did not know what they would do for breakfast.
  "If you wish," said the Lion, "I will go into the forest and kill a deer for you. You 
can roast it by the fire, since your tastes are so peculiar that you prefer cooked food, 
and then you will have a very good breakfast."
  "Don't!Please don't," begged the Tin Woodman. "I should certainly weep if you killed a 
poor deer, and then my jaws would rust again." But the Lion went away into the forest and 
found his own supper, and no one ever knew what it was, for he didn't mention it. And the 
Scarecrow found a tree full of nuts and filled Dorothy's basket with them, so that she 
would not be hungry for a long time. She thought this was very kind and thoughtful of the 
Scarecrow, but she laughed heartily at the awkward way in which the poor creature picked 
up the nuts. His padded hands were so clumsy and the nuts were so small that he dropped 
almost as many as he put in the basket. But the Scarecrow did not mind how long it took 
him to fill the basket, for it enabled him to keep away from the fire, as he feared a 
spark might get into his straw and burn him up. So he kept a good distance away from the 
flames, and only came near to cover Dorothy with dry leaves when she lay down to sleep. 
These kept her very snug and warm, and she slept soundly until morning.
  When it was daylight, the girl bathed her face in a little rippling brook, and soon 
after they all started toward the Emerald City.
  This was to be an eventful day for the travelers. They had hardly been walking an hour 
when they saw before them a great ditch that crossed the road and divided the forest as 
far as they could see on either side. It was a very wide ditch, and when they crept up to 
the edge and looked into it they could see it was also very deep, and there were many 
big, jagged rocks at the bottom.
  The sides were so steep that none of them could climb down, and for a moment it seemed 
that their journey must end.
  "What shall we do?" asked Dorothy despairingly.
  "I haven't the faintest idea," said the Tin Woodman, and the Lion shook his shaggy mane 
and looked thoughtful.
  But the Scarecrow said, "We cannot fly, that is certain.
  Neither can we climb down into this great ditch. Therefore, if we cannot jump over it, 
we must stop where we are."
  "I think I could jump over it," said the Cowardly Lion, after measuring the distance 
carefully in his mind.
  "Then we are all right," answered the Scarecrow, "for you can carry us all over on your 
back, one at a time."
  "Well, I'll try it," said the Lion. "Who will go first?"
  "I will," declared the Scarecrow, "for, if you found that you could not jump over the