helpless and frail. But there are none in the forest so bright as these."They now came upon more and more of the big scarlet poppies,and fewer and fewer of the other flowers; and soon they foundthemselves in the midst of a great meadow of poppies. Now it iswell known that when there are many of these flowers togethertheir odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it fallsasleep, and if the sleeper is not carried away from the scent ofthe flowers, he sleeps on and on forever. But Dorothy did notknow this, nor could she get away from the bright red flowers thatwere everywhere about; so presently her eyes grew heavy and shefelt she must sit down to rest and to sleep.But the Tin Woodman would not let her do this."We must hurry and get back to the road of yellow brick before dark,"he said; and the Scarecrow agreed with him. So they kept walking untilDorothy could stand no longer. Her eyes closed in spite of herself andshe forgot where she was and fell among the poppies, fast asleep."What shall we do?" asked the Tin Woodman."If we leave her here she will die," said the Lion. "The smell ofthe flowers is killing us all. I myself can scarcely keep my eyes open,and the dog is asleep already."
It was true; Toto had fallen down beside his little mistress.But the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, not being made of flesh,were not troubled by the scent of the flowers."Run fast," said the Scarecrow to the Lion, "and get out ofthis deadly flower bed as soon as you can. We will bring thelittle girl with us, but if you should fall asleep you are too bigto be carried."
So the Lion aroused himself and bounded forward as fast as hecould go. In a moment he was out of sight."Let us make a chair with our hands and carry her," said theScarecrow. So they picked up Toto and put the dog in Dorothy'slap, and then they made a chair with their hands for the seat andtheir arms for the arms and carried the sleeping girl between themthrough the flowers.
On and on they walked, and it seemed that the great carpet ofdeadly flowers that surrounded them would never end. They followedthe bend of the river, and at last came upon their friend the Lion,lying fast asleep among the poppies. The flowers had been too strongfor the huge beast and he had given up at last, and fallen only a shortdistance from the end of the poppy bed, where the sweet grass spread inbeautiful green fields before them.
"We can do nothing for him," said the Tin Woodman, sadly; "forhe is much too heavy to lift. We must leave him here to sleep onforever, and perhaps he will dream that he has found courage at last.""I'm sorry," said the Scarecrow. "The Lion was a very goodcomrade for one so cowardly. But let us go on."They carried the sleeping girl to a pretty spot beside the river,far enough from the poppy field to prevent her breathing any more ofthe poison of the flowers, and here they laid her gently on the softgrass and waited for the fresh breeze to waken her.
