the bean stalk, he cut with his sword the rope that bound him to the parasol. "Put the parasol down half way and I'll climb ahead and cut an opening."
With great difficulty Dorothy partially lowered the parasol and instantly their speed diminished. Indeed they barely moved at all and the Knight had soon passed them on his climb to the top.
"Are you there?" rumbled the Cowardly Lion anxiously. A great clod of earth landed on his head, filling his eyes and mouth with mud.
"Ugh!" roared the lion.
"It's getting light! It's getting light!" screamed Dorothy, and in her excitement snapped the parasol up.
Sir Hokus, having cut with his sword a large circular hole in the thin crust of earth covering the tube, was about to step out when the parasol, hurling up from below, caught him neatly on its top and out burst the whole party and sailed up almost to the clouds!
"Welcome to Oz!" cried Dorothy, looking down happily on the dear familiar Munchkin landscape.
"Home at last!" exulted the Scarecrow, wafting a kiss downward.
"Let's get down to earth before we knock the sun
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