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// Chapter 20: The Ladder and the Dainty China Country 
// Story: My Little Wizard of Oz 
// by BlueBioWolf 
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While Nick worked on building the ladder with wood he found in the forest, the fleshy members of the group took this opportunity to rest.

Bartleby watched Nick work and said, "I cannot think why this wall is here, nor what it is made of."

"Rest your brains and do not worry about the wall," replied Nick. "When we have climbed over it, we shall know what is on the other side."





After a time, the ladder was finished. It looked clumsy, but, Nick was sure it was strong and would answer their purpose. Bartleby woke the flesh members and told them that the ladder was ready. Bartleby climbed up the ladder first, but, he was so awkward that Dorothy had to follow close behind and keep him from falling off. When he got his head over the top of the wall, he said, "Oh, my!"

"Go on," exclaimed Dorothy.

So, Bartleby climbed farther up and sat down on the top of the wall and Dorothy put her head over and cried, "Oh, my!" just as the scarecrow had done.

Fluttershy flew up and gave a similar exclamation. “Oh, my!”

“What are you guys, ‘Oh, my’-ing about?” Pinkie asked. She then started climbing the ladder herself. “Whoa, this is a deceptively sturdy ladder to be able to hold my weight.”

“That’s Nick’s expertise, apparently,” Sunset said.

Pinkie soon reached the top. “Whoa!” she said. “You’ve all got to see this!”

The others soon made their way up and made a wide array of impressed/surprised noises. When they were all sitting in a row on the top of the wall, they looked down and saw a strange sight.





Before them was a great stretch of country having a floor as smooth and shining and white as the bottom of a big platter. Scattered around were many houses made entirely of china and painted in the brightest colors. These houses were quite small, the biggest of them reaching only as high as Dorothy's waist. There were also pretty little barns with china fences around them and many cows, sheep, horses, pigs, and chickens, all made of china, were standing about in groups. But, the strangest of all were the people who lived in this queer country. There were milkmaids and shepherdesses with brightly colored bodices and golden spots all over their gowns, princesses with most gorgeous frocks of silver, gold, and purple, shepherds dressed in knee breeches with pink, yellow, and blue stripes down them and golden buckles on their shoes, princes with jeweled crowns upon their heads wearing ermine robes and satin doublets, and funny clowns in ruffled gowns with round red spots upon their cheeks and tall, pointed caps. And, strangest of all, these people were all made of china, even to their clothes, and were so small that the tallest of them was no higher than Dorothy's knee.

“For a country associated with red,” Trixie said. “There’s very little red to be found.”

“It’s still really pretty,” Twilight said. “Though, I wasn’t expecting the Quadlings to be so small.”

Chapter 20: The Dainty China Country, Sunset said internally.

No one did so much as look at the travelers at first except one little purple china dog with an extra-large head, which came to the wall and barked at them in a tiny voice, afterwards running away again.

“I suggest we use the ladder to get down,” Starlight said. She then used her magic to lift the ladder and put it on the other side.

“Thanks, Starlight,” Sunset said.

So, they made their way down safely. They all looked at the strange land.

"We must cross this strange place in order to get to the other side," said Dorothy. "For it would be unwise for us to go any other way except due South."

“Right,” Fluttershy said. “But, carefully. We don’t want to break anything or anyone.”





They began walking through the country of the china people and the first thing they came to was a china milkmaid milking a china cow. As they drew near, the cow suddenly gave a kick and kicked over the stool, the pail, and even the milkmaid herself and all fell on the china ground with a great clatter. Dorothy was shocked to see that the cow had broken her leg off and that the pail was lying in several small pieces, while the poor milkmaid had a nick in her left elbow.

"There!" cried the milkmaid angrily. "See what you have done! My cow has broken her leg and I must take her to the mender's shop and have it glued on again. What do you mean by coming here and frightening my cow?"

“We’re terribly sorry,” Dorothy said. “We didn’t mean any harm. We were passing through to see Glinda the Good.”

But, the pretty milkmaid was much too vexed to make any answer. She picked up the leg sulkily and led her cow away, the poor animal limping on three legs. As she left them, the milkmaid cast many reproachful glances over her shoulder at the clumsy strangers, holding her nicked elbow close to her side. Dorothy was quite grieved at this mishap.

"We must be very careful here," said the kind-hearted Nick. "Or we may hurt these pretty little people so they will never get over it."





A little farther on, Dorothy met a most beautifully dressed young princess, who stopped short as she saw the strangers and started to run away. Dorothy wanted to see more of the princess, so, she ran after her. But, the china girl cried out:

"Don't chase me! Don't chase me!"

She had such a frightened little voice that Dorothy stopped and said, "Why not?"

"Because," answered the princess, also stopping, a safe distance away. "If I run, I may fall down and break myself."

“Can’t ya just be fixed?” Applejack asked.

"Oh, yes, but, one is never so pretty after being mended, you know," replied the princess.

Something tells me they’re not familiar with Wabi-sabi, Sunset thought to herself. Anything beautiful has flaws.

"Now, there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns," continued the china lady. "Who is always trying to stand upon his head. He has broken himself so often that he is mended in a hundred places and doesn't look at all pretty. Here he comes now, so you can see for yourself."

Indeed, a jolly little clown came walking toward them and they could see that in spite of his pretty clothes of red, yellow, and green he was completely covered with cracks, running every which way and showing plainly that he had been mended in many places. The Clown put his hands in his pockets and after puffing out his cheeks and nodding his head at them saucily, he said:

"My lady fair, why do you stare at poor old Mr. Joker? You're quite as stiff and prim as if you'd eaten up a poker!"

"Be quiet, sir!" said the princess. "Can't you see these are strangers, and should be treated with respect?"

"Well, that's respect, I expect," declared the clown and immediately stood upon his head.

"Don't mind Mr. Joker," said the princess to Dorothy. "He is considerably cracked in his head, and that makes him foolish."

“That’s alright,” Pinkie said. “I had a few boo-boos on my head and I sometimes sound silly after that.”

“Aunt Em would be pleased to keep you on her mantle,” Dorothy said.

"That would make me very unhappy," answered the china princess. "You see, here in our country, we live contentedly and can talk and move around as we please. But, whenever any of us are taken away, our joints at once stiffen and we can only stand straight and look pretty. Of course that is all that is expected of us when we are on mantels and cabinets and drawing-room tables, but, our lives are much pleasanter here in our own country."

“I can certainly see why,” Sunset said.

“Must be difficult being a Quadling,” Twilight said.

“We’re not Quadlings,” the china princess said. “We’re much too small.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Twilight said. “It’s just that we’re in Quadling Country–”

“This is China Country,” the princess interrupted. “A small region of Quadling Country.”

“Ah,” Twilight said. “That makes sense. Though, wouldn’t it be more of a state?”

“Is there some reason a place within a country can’t have country in its name?” the princess asked. “Or does that confuse you?”

“Neither,” Twilight said. “Just trying to figure things out is all.”

“I stopped trying to do that weeks ago,” Trixie said. “Especially since it’s likely we’re never coming back to Oz again.”

That may very well be the case, Sunset said internally. I don’t have the other installments in the Famous Forty.

"I would not make you unhappy for all the world!" exclaimed Dorothy. "So I'll just say good-bye."

"Good-bye," replied the princess.





They walked carefully through the china country. The little animals and all the people scampered out of their way, fearing the strangers would break them and after an hour or so the travelers reached the other side of the country and came to another china wall.

“Ah feel like a bull in a china shop,” Applejack said.

“Yes,” Sunset said. “We all were careful and took special pains not to break anything. That’s what that expression basically means.”

This second wall was not so high as the first, however, and by standing upon Raw's back, Dorothy, Nick, Bartleby, and Toto all managed to scramble to the top. Then, Raw gathered his legs under him and jumped on the wall, but, just as he jumped, he upset a china church with his tail and smashed it all to pieces.

“Yeah, we should probably get going now,” Sunset said.

“Quickly,” Starlight added.

They made a quick escape.

“There are a lot of things I’m prepared to deal with,” Sunset said. “Irate Christians are not among them.”

“Hopefully, they get the help they need,” Twilight said.

"That was too bad," said Dorothy. "But, really I think we were lucky in not doing these little people more harm than breaking a cow's leg and a church. They are all so brittle!"

"They are, indeed," said Bartleby. "And I am thankful I am made of straw and cannot be easily damaged. There are worse things in the world than being a scarecrow."

“True,” Rainbow said. “And as long as you stay away from fire, you should be okay.”