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Lf baum is amazing in the wizard of the lake. Lyman frank baum biography Where does the estuary frank baum live

Who does not know Volkov's fairy tale about the girl Ellie, who ended up in the Magic Land? But not everyone knows that in reality Volkov's work is just a free retelling books Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Lyman Frank Baum. In addition to this fairy tale, Baum devoted thirteen more works to the universe of Oz, in addition, other equally interesting children's fairy tales came out from under his pen.

Baum Lyman Frank: a biography of the early years

Frank was born in May 1856 in the family of a cooper in the small American town of Chittenango. Due to heart problems in the baby, doctors predicted a short life for him - 3-4 years, but, to everyone's surprise, the boy outlived all his brothers and sisters.

Shortly after Frank was born, his father became rich and was able to provide for his children. Better conditions for growing up. All of Baum's childhood was spent in private teachers.

Early fascinated by books, Baum soon read the entire huge library of his father, which aroused his pride. Baum's favorite authors were Dickens and Thackeray.

In 1868 the boy was sent to the military academy at Peekskill. True, Frank soon persuaded his parents to take him home.

One day, the guy received a miniature printing press for the production of newspapers as a birthday present from his father. Together with his brother, they began to publish a family newspaper. The home newspaper of the Baums published not only chronicles family life, but also the first fairy tales written by young Frank.

From the age of seventeen, the writer was seriously interested in philately and tried to publish his own magazine dedicated to this topic. He later worked as a director of a bookstore. His next hobby was breeding thoroughbred chickens. Baum even devoted a book to this topic - it was published just when the guy was twenty years old. However, later he lost interest in chickens and became interested in theater.

Baum's personal life

Having traveled for some time with a traveling theater, Lyman Frank Baum met the beautiful Maud at the age of twenty-five, and a year later they got married. The parents of Frank's beloved were not very fond of the dreamy son-in-law, but his father's wealth forced them to agree to this marriage.

Frank and Maud had four sons, whom Baum loved very much and often told bedtime stories of his own composition.

Over time, he began to write them down, and soon published them - this is how writing career Baum.

Successful writing career

After the success of the first children's book, a couple of years later, Baum wrote a sequel, Father Goose: His Book. However, as he watched his own babies grow up, he realized that it was necessary to write a fairy tale for older children who were no longer interested in reading about the adventures of geese in the barnyard. So the idea arose to write about the girl Dorothy, who happened to be in fairyland Oz.

In 1900, the debut tale of the Oz cycle was published. This work instantly gained popularity, and tens of thousands of children began to read out the fascinating adventures of Dorothy. On the wave of success, the author published a fairy tale about Santa Claus, and two years later - its continuation. However, readers all expected from him a new book about a fairy-tale land, and in 1904 another fairy tale of the Oz cycle was born.

Baum's last years

Trying to move away from the topic of Oz, Baum wrote other tales, but they were not so interested in readers. Later, the writer completely switched to writing books about a magical land. In total, Baum devoted fourteen books to her, the last two of which were published after the death of the writer, who died in 1919 from heart problems. It is noteworthy that the Oz cycle was so popular that even after the death of its creator, other writers began to publish numerous sequels. Of course, they were inferior to the original.

Summary of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The main character of the most popular first part and most of the other books in the cycle was the orphan Dorothy (Volkov renamed her Ellie).

In the first book, a girl with faithful dog Toto is blown into Oz by a powerful hurricane. Trying to return home, at the prompt of the good sorceress, Dorothy goes to the Emerald City to Oz, who rules in it. Along the way, the girl befriends the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. All of them need something from the wizard, and he promises to fulfill their requests if their friends will save the country from the evil sorceress. Having overcome many problems, each hero gets what he wants.

Plot of "The Wonderful Land of Oz"

In the second book, the main character is the servant of the evil witch Mombi Tip. One day, the boy escapes from her, taking with him a magic powder that can breathe life into inanimate objects. Having reached the Emerald City, he helps the Scarecrow escape from there, as the city is captured by an army of militant girls with knitting needles led by Ginger. Together they ask the Tin Woodman and Glinda (the good sorceress) for help. It turns out that they need to find the true ruler of the city - the disappeared Princess Ozma. After a while, it turns out that Type is Ozma, enchanted by the witch Mombi. Having returned the true appearance, the princess and her friends regain their power.

The plot of "Ozma of Oz", "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz", "Journey to Oz" and "The Emerald City of Oz"

The girly Dorothy reappears in the third book. Here she, along with Billina the chicken, finds herself in the Magic Land. The girl is horrified to know tragic story royal family Yves. Trying to help them, she almost loses her own head. However, having met Princess Ozma (who came to the aid of the royal family in the company of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman), Dorothy manages to remove the spell from the Eve family and return home.

In the fourth book, as a result of an earthquake, Dorothy with her cousin Jeb and decrepit horse Jim find themselves in a magical land of glass cities. Here they meet the wizard Oz and the kitten Eureka. To get out of this not at all friendly country, the heroes have to overcome a lot. The journey ends again in the land of Oz, where the girl is expected by good old friends who help her and her companions to return home.

In the fifth book in the series, Princess Ozma had a birthday party where she really wanted to see Dorothy. To do this, she confused all the roads, and the girl, showing the way to a tramp named Shaggy, she herself got lost and, after numerous wanderings and adventures, ended up in the land of Oz to Ozma.

In the sixth story of the "Land of Oz" cycle, due to problems on the farm, Dorothy's family moves to live in the Magic Land. However, trouble looms over the Emerald City - an evil king who is building an underground passage is trying to capture it.

Books about Santa Claus

Although Baum received worldwide fame and name thanks to the endless epic about Oz, he also wrote other fairy tales. So, after the success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the writer wrote a wonderful good Christmas tale "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." In it, he talked about the fate of a kind boy raised by a lioness and the nymph Nekil, about how and why he became Santa Claus and how he received immortality.

The children also liked this story very much. Apparently, Baum himself was closer to the story of Santa Claus than to the land of Oz, and soon he publishes the book "Kidnapped Santa Claus". In it, he talks about the main enemies of Klaus and their attempts to disrupt Christmas. Later, the plot of this book was often used for many films.

During his rather long life, Lyman Frank Baum wrote more than two dozen books. These books were received differently by the public. Fairy tales brought him the greatest popularity. And although the author repeatedly tried to write on other topics, and very successfully, for his readers he will forever remain the court chronicler of Oz.

Years of life: from 05/15/1856 to 05/06/1919

Writer and journalist, classic of children's literature. Among their compatriots who wrote and write in the genre literary fairy tale, Lyman Frank Baum to this day remains the brightest personality. Fairy tales are just a small part of the author's work, but it is thanks to them that the author entered the history of US literature.

Lyman Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York. Frank had very little chance of ever reaching the age of three. Doctors already in the first year of his life did not hide the truth from his parents: the baby had a congenital heart disease. And only a calm, measured and happy life, preferably not in big city, but the countryside.

By the time Frank was born, the writer's father, Benjamin, was a cooper who made barrels for oil. It was those that were called "barrels" due to the fact that just so much oil was placed in them. But the seventh child became like a happy talisman: soon Benjamin from a cooper became a seller of black gold; and his business went uphill so rapidly that he became rich in a short time. Father could let the teachers themselves come to Frank: he did not go to school. Frank was such a bookworm that he soon overcame the entire far from small library of his father. Frank's favorites were Charles Dickens and William Thackeray. Dickens was still alive at this point, so all the novelties that came out from the pen of the classic were immediately delivered to Frank. Such a passion for his son was a source of special pride for his father. He told everyone: “My Frank these books are cracking like nuts!”.

Frank met his 14th birthday happy: the father came to his son's room in the morning and brought him a very large gift - it was typewriter. Quite a rarity at the time. On the same day, Frank and his younger brother already delighted their parents with the first family newspaper. And then the newspaper, which later grew into a magazine, began to be published regularly. In it, in addition to the family chronicle, there was also fiction - Frank often wrote fairy tales for the younger ones ...

In 17 years future writer began to produce a completely adult magazine. Since his second hobby, after books, was philately, the pages of the new edition were devoted to the history of stamps, various auctions, and travel.

Frank himself was truly restless - whoever he just did not work in his youth. He started as a reporter, was the director of a bookstore, studied for two years at a military school, where he experienced an almost physical disgust for the drill. Then he decided to become a farmer, raised poultry, and at the same time published a magazine dedicated to poultry farming. But soon he returned to the city, became a producer of a number of theaters; several times went on stage, playing in performances.

In 1881, Frank fell in love with the charming Maud. The somewhat frivolous young man, with his head in the clouds, did not seem to Maud's parents an exceptionally successful match. The girl said that she would not go for anyone else but Frank. So, on November 9, 1882, Frank and Maud got married. They had four children, for whom Baum began to write fairy tales; at first they were oral. Frank admitted to Maud that he really does not want children to learn life on " evil tales Brothers Grimm.

In 1899, Baum published his first book, Uncle Goose's Tales. In memory of how he raised Christmas geese in his youth. A year later, his famous story "The Wizard of Oz" was published. There are no rich and poor in Oz, no money, wars, diseases, life here is a celebration of sociability and friendliness. Good in Baum always takes precedence over the power of evil, and evil itself, in most cases, turns out to be "fake", illusory. Baum repeated more than once that he wanted to create a non-terrible fairy tale in which, in contrast to classic patterns- "miracles and joy were preserved, and grief and horror were cast aside." The Land of Oz is a land of dreams, sharply contrasted by the author with the withered, gray Kansas prairie, from where the journey of the heroine, the girl Dorothy, begins. In the words of one of Baum's researchers, Oz is an ordinary American farm, where everything suddenly became extraordinary. The world invented by the author combines the traditional attributes of fairy-tale folklore with concrete examples American rural life. The influence of L. Carroll on Baum is obvious, but the differences between the English and American storytellers are no less obvious. In contrast to Wonderland, where Alice has to wade through logical traps, ironic intricacies of words and concepts, which indirectly reflected very real life relationships, conventions and prejudices of British life, Oz is a blissful country where conflicts, contradictions, shadow sides of life are canceled. The famous American science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, an ardent fan of Baum's series, noted that in these tales "solid sweet buns, honey and summer holidays". Carroll's Wonderland, compared to Oz, "cold porridge, arithmetic at six in the morning, pouring ice water and long sitting at the desk." According to Bradbury, Wonderland is preferred by intellectuals, and dreamers choose Oz: "Wonderland is what we are, and Oz is what we would like to become."

Readers were looking forward to the author's new stories, but, having released the sixth tale in 1910, Baum decided to take a break. He published two tales about the girl Trot and Captain Bill, which were, in general, well received by readers, but they could not think that the story of Oz was completed. Letters were sent with protests, with proposals to return to their favorite characters. So, a few years later, the author wrote a sequel - "The Land of Oz".

Every year for Christmas, American children received from the author another story about a wonderful country created by his imagination.

Baum's fairy tales have been filmed and staged many times. Baum's magical story quickly spread around the world. It was translated into several languages, and only in our country almost no one heard about the author of Dorothy and Oz. Alexander Melentievich Volkov, taking Baum's "saga" as a basis, re-arranged it in his own interpretation. Volkov's work was called "The Wizard of Oz" and appeared on the bookshelf in 1939 when Americans lined up outside movie theaters to see the Hollywood version of "The Wizard of Oz" with Judy Garland as Dorothy.

For 19 years writing activity Frank has written 62 books, 14 of them were dedicated to the "Magic Land of Oz", 24 books were written exclusively for girls and 6 for boys. In the United States, the beginning of the 20th century was marked by the "Baum boom" - it was decided to film his book; the author personally participated not only in writing the script, but also in staging the film. In total, during the life of the writer, 6 films were shot based on his "saga". In addition, from 1902 to 1911, according to this book, the musical was staged 293 times on Broadway! Perhaps Baum would write more more fairy tales about the Land of Oz, but death from a heart attack confused all the cards of the Court Historian of Oz. May 15, 1919 numerous relatives of the famous American writer, Lyman Frank Baum, had to get together for his next birthday. It was not a round date, but, about a month before the event, invitation cards were sent to the guests, and by the end of April, they had already been received by the addressees. Then none of the invitees knew yet that they would gather at Baum's house a little earlier and on a completely different occasion - on May 6, 1919, Frank's heart stopped. Until his 63rd birthday, the writer, beloved by many generations of children, never lived.

The tales of Oz were, and still are, so popular that after Baum's death, attempts were made to continue the fairy tale. Reader's love turned the dot into an ellipsis: a variety of writers took the baton. A new surge of interest in Baum came at the end of the fifties. At the initiative of a thirteen-year-old schoolboy from New York, in 1957, a International Club The Wizard of Oz. The club exists to this day and has its own periodical, which deals with the details of life in the magical Land of Oz and about latest publications about this theme.

The real discovery of Baum in Russia falls on the nineties. The first sign was a book published in 1991 in the Moscow Worker, which included the second, third and thirteenth tales of the series, and a little later, the translation of The Wizard of Oz was proposed.

Baum's fairy tales are imbued with an optimistic faith: everything that a person can dream of is inherent in himself. Baum was convinced that humanity and morality are not invested in people - they are awakened. As well as the fact that "a dream - a daydream when the eyes are open and the brain is working with might and main - should lead to the improvement of the world. A child with a developed imagination, over time, will grow into a man or woman with a developed imagination and, therefore, will be able to to nurture, to lead civilization forward."

On the set of The Wizard of Oz, MGM's dressers were looking for a well-worn but elegant coat to dress the wizard in. After rummaging through local second-hand clothing stores, they found such a coat and, by an incredible coincidence, it turned out that it had previously belonged to the author of the book "The Wizard of Oz" Frank Baum (L. Frank Baum).

Bibliography

* Stories of Mother Goose in prose (1897)
* Father Goose: his book (1899)

* (Wizard of Oz, Great Wizard of Oz) (1900)
* The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1092)
* (The Wonderful Country of Oz, Oz) (1904)
* (Princess Ozma of Oz) (1907)
* Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908)
* (1909)
* (1910)
* The Patchwork Girl of Oz (The Patchwork Girl of Oz) (1913)
* Tik-Tok from Oz (1914)
* (The Scarecrow of Oz) (1915)
* (1916)
* The Lost Princess of Oz (The Lost Princess of Oz) (1917)
* The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918)
* (1919)
* Glinda of Oz (1920)

* (1901)

Screen adaptations of works, theatrical performances

Screen adaptations
* The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, based on the musical directed by Otis Turner
* The Wizard of Oz Musical film directed by Victor Flemin
* Journey back to Oz, Cartoon official sequel to The Wizard of Oz
* The Wizard, a film musical based on the Broadway musical directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross
* Return to Oz
* iron Man(miniseries)

Lyman Frank Baum Place of Birth

Chittenango[d], NY

Baum did not shy away from political journalism. In an editorial in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer in 1891, he approved of the massacre of the Indians at Wounded Knee, writing:

"Pioneer" has already stated that our security requires the complete destruction of the Indians. Having oppressed them for centuries, we should, in order to protect our civilization, once again oppress them and finally wipe out these wild and untamed creatures from the face of the earth. This is the guarantee of the future security of our settlers and soldiers who have found themselves under incompetent command. Otherwise, in the future we will have problems with the Redskins, no less than in previous years.

original text(English)
The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilizations, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.

The Dakota Pioneer newspaper lasted a little over a year. Grieving over the next ruin, the family at the same time rejoiced: the third son was born.

Unable to find happiness in the West, the Baums moved back East to booming Chicago. Lack of money and disorder dragged along.

It was then that Baum came up with the idea to try writing for children. In 1897 he published Mother Goose's Tales in prose. (English) Russian are witty variations on the themes of traditional children's fables. The experience turned out to be successful. But a serious turn in his fate will be indicated later, when, first in the imagination, then on paper (Baum saved the stub of the pencil with which that first draft was written as a relic), a fairy tale was born about the girl Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard and their amazing adventures in some fantasy land. The country was still unnamed.

The name, according to the Baum family legend, was born May evening 1898, when, as usual, their own and neighbor's children and the owner of the house gathered in the living room, improvising on the go, he told one of his tales. "Where was all this, Mr. Baum?" asked a childish voice. “And it was in a country called ... - the narrator's gaze, running around the room in search of clues, accidentally fell on an old bureau in the corner with drawers for home file cabinets, the letters A - N were on the top, O - Z on the bottom. - ... Oz! » So the newborn was named fairy world. Baum himself did not attach any importance to this event at first. But child readers reacted differently: they sent letters, came, came to visit and demanded that the unsuccessful actor, merchant, journalist and poultry farmer finally go about their business - they demanded a new fairy tale about the country Oz.

In the next two tales - “ Dorothy and Wizard in land Oz" (1908) and "Journey in country Oz" (1909) - Dorothy's companions in her wanderings through the world of miracles are the Wizard (who she met - in the very first book - In the Emerald City, and then flew away to who knows where) and Shaggy, a beggar tramp originally from Kansas. Falling into blissful limits

Enjoy reading!
L F Baum

Baum L F

Amazing in The Wizard of Oz
Baum L.F.

Amazing in The Wizard of Oz.

Foreword

The American writer Lyman Frank Baum /1856-1919/ entered the history of world literature as the creator of one of the most famous, most read fairy tale serials. Like the books of L. Carroll and A. Milne, J. R. Tolkien and J. Barry, Baum's stories have crossed national literary boundaries: more and more new generations of the inhabitants of our planet are brought up on them.

Baum's characters - the girl Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion - in their popularity can compete with such favorites of children and adults as Alice and Winnie the Pooh, hobbits and Peter Pan.

For almost a century now, the works of the Court Historian of Oz, as Baum liked to call himself, have been published and republished in America, translated into dozens foreign languages, performances, musicals, films are staged on them. Civilization does not stand still Newest technologies change our lives beyond recognition, but intricate computer games and super series are not able to obscure Baum's fairy tales, because they are about the Most Important and Necessary - about strong friendship, about self-confidence, about the ability to win in the most difficult circumstances. Baum's books are full of amazing characters and incredible adventures, but the main thing in them is amazing warmth, cheerful kindness, optimism.

The famous American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, an ardent fan of Baum's series, noted that in these fairy tales "solid sweet buns, honey and summer vacations." Carroll's Wonderland compared to Oz is "cooled porridge of arithmetic at six in the morning, pouring ice water and long sitting at the desk." According to Bradbury, Wonderland is preferred by intellectuals, and dreamers choose Oz: "Wonderland is what we are, and Oz is what we would like to become."

Name of this magical land, according to the Baum family legend, was born by accident. On a May evening in 1898, Baum told his children and neighbors another fairy tale, composing it on the go. Someone asked where all this is happening. Baum looked around the room, looked at the home file cabinet with drawers A-N and O-Z and said, "In the Land of Oz."

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was released in 1900 and was so loved by readers that Baum decided to continue the story of a wonderful country. Readers were looking forward to new stories, but, having released the sixth tale in 1910, the author decided to take a break. He published two tales about the girl Grotto and Captain Bill, which were generally well received by readers, but they could not think that the story of Oz was completed. Letters were sent with protests, with proposals to return to their favorite characters. Actually, the fans of Sherlock Holmes reacted about the same when Conan Doyle rebelled and decided to part with his hero. The insidious plans of both writers were doomed to failure. Readers took over - both Conan Doyle and Baum returned to their series.

Baum left fourteen Oz stories. Perhaps he would have written more, but death from a heart attack turned the tables on the Court Historian of Oz. However, reader love has turned the dot into an ellipsis. Also in 1919, Reilly & Lee, a publishing house specializing in the Oz story, commissioned Ruth Plumley Thompson, a twenty-year-old journalist from Philadelphia, to continue the series.

Ruth Thompson fulfilled her task well, and as for the number of titles that came out from under her pen, here she surpassed Baum himself. The tradition of "continuation" did not die out - a variety of writers took over the baton. Tried his luck in this area and the illustrator of most of Baum's lifetime editions, John Neal, who offered readers three of his stories.

A new surge of interest in Baum came at the end of the fifties. At the initiative of a thirteen-year-old schoolboy from New York, in 1957, the International Club of the Wizard of Oz was created. The club exists to this day and has its own periodical, in which, as you might guess, in question about the details of life in the magical Land of Oz and the latest publications on this burning topic.

In that same 1939, when Americans were queuing outside movie theaters to watch the Hollywood version of The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland as Doroga, Alexander Volkov retold the series' first tale in Russian. On the whole, he kept to the original quite carefully, although he omitted a few scenes (the episode with the Warring Trees, the story of the Flying Monkeys, the visit to Porcelain Land). Subsequently, Volkov proposed his own series, inspired by Baum's motives.

The real discovery of Baum in Russia, however, falls on the nineties. The first sign here was a book published in 1991 in the Moscow Rabochy, which included the second, third and thirteenth tales of the series, and a little later a translation of the Wizard was proposed, where Volkov's Ellie gave way to Baum's Dorothy and the text appeared in its original form - without cuts and additions.

This edition is the most complete of all ever undertaken in Russia. First, this is the entire Baum series:

1. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" / 1900 /

2. "Land of Oz" / 1903 /.

3. "Ozma from Oz" /1907/.

4. "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" / 1908 /.

5. "Journey to Oz" /1909/.

6. "Emerald City Land of Oz" /1910/.

7. "Patchwork from the Land of Oz" / 1913 /.

8. "Tik-Tok from the Land of Oz" / 1914 /.

9. "The Scarecrow of Oz" /1915/.

10. "Rinkitink in Oz" /1916/.

11. "The Lost Princess of Oz" / 1917 /.

12. "The Tin Woodman of Oz" /1918/.

13. "The Magic of Oz" / 1919 /.

14. "Glinda of Oz" / 1920 /.

Secondly, readers have the opportunity to get acquainted with the "Sea Fairies", where the characters of the series act, although the Land of Oz itself remains behind the scenes. In addition, the fairy tale "Jenny Geek in Oz" by illustrator John Neil Baum is also published.

Baum did not prepare for publication complete collection writings dedicated to the Land of Oz - otherwise, he might have drawn attention to some discrepancies in the interpretation of events, including the origin of the magical land itself. We, however, did not dare to intrude on Baum's texts and left everything in accordance with the original.

^ AMAZING WIZARD FROM THE COUNTRY 03

1. Hurricane

The girl Dorothy lived in a small house in the middle of the vast Kansas steppe. Her uncle Henry was a farmer and Aunt Em ran the household. The house was small, because the boards for its construction had to be transported by cart from afar. It had four walls, a roof, a floor, and a single room containing an old, rusty stove, a cupboard, a table, a few chairs, and two beds. In one corner was Uncle Henry's and Aunt Em's big bed, and in the other was Dorothy's little bed. There was no attic in the house, and no basement either, except for a hole under the floor, where the family escaped from hurricanes.

In these places, the hurricanes were so ferocious that it cost them nothing to sweep a small house out of their way. There was a trapdoor on the floor in the middle of the room, and underneath it was a ladder that led to the hideout.

Going out of the house and looking around, Dorothy saw only the steppe around. It stretched to the very horizon: a dull plain - no tree, no house. The sun in these parts was so hot that the plowed earth under its burning rays instantly turned into a gray caked mass. The grass, too, quickly turned gray, like everything around. Uncle Henry had painted the house once, but the sun had begun to crack the paint, and the rains had completely washed it away, and now it was the same dull gray as everything else. When Aunt Em first came to these places, she was pretty and cheerful. But the scorching sun and ferocious hurricanes did their job: perky sparks quickly disappeared from her eyes, and a blush from her cheeks. The face is gray and haggard. Aunt Em lost weight and forgot how to smile. When the orphaned Dorothy first came to this house, her laughter frightened Aunt Em so much that she shuddered and clutched at her heart every time. And now, when Dorothy laughed, Aunt Em looked at her in surprise, as if she did not understand what could be funny in this gray life.

As for Uncle Henry, he never laughed. From morning to evening he worked with all his might, and he had no time for fun. He, too, was all gray, from his beard to his rough shoes. He looked stern, concentrated, and rarely spoke.

Only dog Totoshka entertained Dorothy, not allowing her to succumb to the dullness that reigned around. Toto was not grey. He had a charming, silky black coat, a funny black nose, and small, perky black eyes that sparkled with merriment. Toto could play from morning till night, and Dorothy was doting on her faithful friend.

But today they had no time for games. Uncle Henry went out onto the porch, sat on the step, and gazed up at the sky. It was grayer than usual. Dorothy, who was standing next to Toto in her arms, also looked up at the sky. Aunt Em was in the house washing dishes. Far to the north, the wind howled softly, and the long grass near the horizon rippled in waves. The same quiet howl was heard from the opposite, southern side. Uncle Henry and Dorothy turned to the new noise and saw that there too the grass was rippling like the sea.

Uncle Henry stood up from the steps.

There's a hurricane coming, Em! he called to his wife. - I'll go and see how the cattle is! - And he ran to the stalls, where there were cows and horses.

Aunt Em left the dishes and went to the door. One quick glance was enough for her to understand that trouble was coming.

Dorothy! she called. - Live in the shelter!

At that moment, Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and crawled under the bed. The girl rushed to catch him. Frightened, Aunt Em opened the hatch and quickly began to descend the stairs to the shelter. Finally Dorothy caught Toto and decided to follow Aunt Em. But before she could take a step, the wind howled terribly and the little house shook so that the girl lost her balance and sat on the floor.

It was then that the incredible happened.

The house rotated around its axis several times, and then began to slowly rise into the air, like a balloon.

Just in the place where Dorothy's house stood, two winds north and south collided, and from this collision a ferocious hurricane was born. In the very center of the hurricane it is usually quite quiet, but because the air currents pressed harder and harder on the walls of the house, he rose higher and higher until he was on the crest of a huge air wave that carried him like a light feather.

Outside the windows it was dark, dark, and the wind howled like a wild beast. In fact, it was even pleasant to fly. Except for the fact that at first the house swayed a little, and once it tilted very strongly, Dorothy felt only a slight rocking, as in a cradle.

But Totoshka obviously did not like it. With a loud bark, he rushed around the room around the hostess, and she quietly sat on her floor and tried to understand what would happen next.

Once Totoshka gaped and landed in an open hatch. At first Dorothy thought he was gone forever. But then I saw that the edge of a black ear was sticking out of the hatch. Air pressure did not allow the dog to fall to the ground. Dorothy crawled to the hatch, grabbed Toto by the ear and pulled him back. She then slammed the trap door shut to prevent something like this from happening again.

Time passed, and finally Dorothy calmed down completely. But she was lonely, and besides, the wind howled with such force that Dorothy was afraid of deafening. At first she thought that the house would fall and she and Totoshka would be crushed to death, but nothing of the sort happened. Then Dorothy forgot about the excitement and decided to hope for the best. She crawled along the shaking floor to her bed, climbed on it, and Totoshka perched beside her. Despite the fact that the house shook and the wind roared with might and main, Dorothy closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.

^ 2. TALKING WITH MUNCHING PEOPLE

Dorothy was awakened by a shock so strong and sudden that, had she not been lying on the soft bed, she would have hurt herself badly. The girl quickly pulled herself together and began to think what had happened. Toto buried his cold nose in her face and whimpered. Dorothy sat up in bed and found she wasn't flying anywhere else. The sun shone brightly through the window. Dorogi got out of bed and, accompanied by the faithful Totoshka, went to the door and flung it open.

What she saw made her widen her eyes and scream in surprise.

The hurricane lowered her house - I must say, rather gently for a hurricane in a charming country. A green lawn with fruit trees strewn with ripe and juicy fruits stretched around. Amazing flowers grew everywhere. Birds perched on the trees and bushes and sang in all their voices. Not far away a transparent stream ran, whispering something very pleasant - at least it seemed to the girl, who had lived all her life in the dry, arid steppe.

Dorothy stood and admired these miracles and did not notice how a group of very strange people. They were about the same height as Dorothy, but it was still clear that they were adults. Three men and a woman were dressed in fancy costumes. They all wore tall, pointed hats with bells that tinkled melodiously as they walked. The men's hats were blue, the women's were white. She also wore a white cloak that fell loosely from her shoulders and was adorned with stars that sparkled in the sun like small diamonds. The men were dressed in all blue and shod in sparkling boots with blue over the knee boots. Dorothy thought they were about the same age as Uncle Henry. Two of them had beards. And the woman was older. Her face was all wrinkled, and she moved with difficulty.

Approaching the house, on the threshold of which Dorothy stood, the strangers began to whisper to each other, as if they were afraid to come closer. At last the little old woman came up to Dorothy and bowed low to her, and said in a pleasant voice:

Welcome to the Land of the Munchkins, O noble sorceress! We really thank you for killing the Wicked Witch of the East and freeing the Munchkins from slavery!

A well-known classic of children's literature, whose books have been filmed dozens of times, have given rise to many imitations and parodies.

Biography

Around the same time, Baum became interested in theater, but this hobby brought a lot of trouble. He was invited to a visiting troupe with one condition - the costumes had to be their own. Baum bought the most expensive costumes and wigs, but they went to the chests of other actors, and Frank got roles without words. However, this deceit did not break Baum, and some time later he became an actor, as well as the author of melodramas and the owner of several semi-professional theaters that roamed the Midwest and played for farmers, lumberjacks, oil workers - in conditions little resembling theatrical. Once, Baum recalled, they were giving Hamlet on a stage built hastily from boards. The Ghost King took only a few steps and collapsed into the gap. The inexperienced public, mistaking this for a spectacular trick, began to demand its repetition and did not calm down until the actor threatened to sue for bruises from repeated falls. The carefree years of acting youth remained the happiest in Baum's life. However, they soon ended. Marriage and the birth of a son made me think about a more solid occupation.

It was then that fate, which had indulged him until now, began to beat painfully. Bankruptcy and death of his father, then a fire that destroyed all the theater property at once. I had to start from scratch. Then, following the example of many compatriots, the small Baum family went to the West in search of happiness. The Dakota, where they arrived in 1888, was an almost completely bare prairie, dissected by a newly built railroad. The "city" of Aberdeen had about three thousand inhabitants - mostly young, with little means and high hopes, attracted here by rumors of gold and fertile land. As for Frank Baum, he had a special enrichment plan: with the last money, he opened the first department store in the city, where all sorts of things were sold at a cheap price - Chinese lanterns, pans, sweets, bicycles. Store enjoyed wild success in children: they were attracted here not so much by ice cream as by magical stories that the seller told without fail and with sincere enthusiasm. He never turned down a loan. The number of debtors grew, and Baum's modest capital dwindled. On New Year's Eve 1890, the store closed forever, which did not stop the bankrupt owner from throwing a party to celebrate the birth of his second son.

A month later, filled with new hopes, he took over as editor of the Dakota Pioneer newspaper. Baum delivered materials to the room almost single-handedly. Given the peculiarities of his character, it is not surprising that the humorous column succeeded most of all in the newspaper. By the way, the following joke flashed in the newspaper on the topic of the day:

"Is there food for cattle?" - ask the poor fellow-farmer. “No,” he answers, “yes, I came up with the idea of putting green glasses on her and feeding her with sawdust.”

Years later, this “trick” was remembered by Baum the storyteller: the Wizard will order everyone who enters his city to put on green glasses that transform any glass into an emerald.

Baum did not shy away from political journalism. In an 1891 editorial in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, he approved of the massacre of Indians at Wounded Knee, writing:

"Pioneer" has already stated that our security requires the complete destruction of the Indians. Having oppressed them for centuries, we should, in order to protect our civilization, once again oppress them and finally wipe out these wild and untamed creatures from the face of the earth. This is the guarantee of the future security of our settlers and soldiers who have found themselves under incompetent command. Otherwise, in the future we will have problems with the Redskins, no less than in previous years.
original text(English)

The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilizations, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.

The Dakota Pioneer newspaper lasted a little over a year. Grieving over the next ruin, the family at the same time rejoiced: the third son was born.

Unable to find happiness in the West, the Baums moved back East to booming Chicago. Lack of money and disorder dragged along.

It was then that Baum came up with the idea to try writing for children. In 1897 he published " (English)Russian are witty variations on the themes of traditional children's fables. The experience turned out to be successful. But a serious turn in his fate will be indicated later, when, first in the imagination, then on paper (the stub of the pencil with which that first draft was written, Baum kept as a relic), a fairy tale was born about the girl Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard and their amazing adventures in a fairy-tale land. The country was still unnamed.

The name, according to the Baum family legend, was born on a May evening in 1898, when, as usual, their own and neighbor's children gathered in the living room and the owner of the house, improvising on the go, told one of his fairy tales. "Where was all this, Mr. Baum?" asked a childish voice. “And it was in a country called ... - the narrator's gaze, running around the room in search of clues, accidentally fell on an old bureau in the corner with drawers for home file cabinets, the letters A - N were on the top, O - Z on the bottom. - ... Oz! » So the newborn fairy-tale world got its name. Baum himself did not attach any importance to this event at first. But child readers reacted differently: they sent letters, came, came to visit and demanded that the unsuccessful actor, merchant, journalist and poultry farmer finally go about their business - they demanded a new fairy tale about Oz. Baum gave up, though not immediately. It was not until 1904 that a sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) was born. New fairy tale called "The Land of Oz". There is no Dorothy in it, but there are her friends the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, there are also new extraordinary characters: Pumpkinhead Jack, a ridiculous glorious creature built from poles and pumpkins and animated with the help of magic powder; Goats, thanks to the same powder, turned into a dashing horse; the smug pedant the Wobbler Beetle and the boy Tip are actually the bewitched Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz.