Quite non-childish facts from the book "The Wizard of Oz", which were decided not to be included in the film

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900 and immediately became one of the most beloved children's books in the United States. The Library of Congress has declared it "America's greatest and most beloved homebrew fairy tale." In 1902, this breathtaking tale was staged in the acclaimed Broadway musical, and the 1939 adaptation made a lasting impression on children around the world. But few people know how cruel this fairy tale really is …

1. Tin Lumberjack

The appearance of the Tin Lumberjack (Tin Man, later in Volkov's fairy tale - Tin Woodman) in the book actually has a bloody beginning. Lumberjack Nick Chopper was born and raised in Oz. And all would be fine, but one day a man fell in love with the assistant of an evil witch, who was against their relationship. Therefore, she decided to separate them and put a spell on his ax, so that he involuntarily began to chop off his limbs.

Each time the flesh was cut off, Nick replaced the body part with a tin copy (except for the heart) until it was completely made of tin. But they decided not to show this story in the film.

2. Lobotomy

One of the magical creatures that appears in Baum's seventh book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, is a glassy, transparent cat, Bungle, whose heart and brains are visible through the glass. Despite his fiery temper and rebellious spirit, he has repeatedly become an ally of Dorothy and her friends in many situations. But one day the Wizard, taking into account the wayward nature of the glass cat, makes him a lobotomy so that he becomes more friendly and accommodating.

3. Heads in the closet

Like any other spoiled girl, Princess Langweder has luxurious jewelry and dresses, but she is not at all interested in them. After all, she has much more interesting "accessories" - severed heads hidden in the closet.

When she gets bored with one head, she removes it from her body and replaces it with another, considering this to be the best solution to combat the bored appearance. All the heads were cut off from the girls in the vicinity of the kingdom. And it is not at all surprising that when meeting with Dorothy, Langweder really wanted to get her head in her collection.

4. King of the Dwarfs

The real nemesis of Dorothy and her friends is the Dwarf King. This is a power-hungry immortal creature whose only weakness is a chicken egg. The Dwarf King's favorite pastime was to turn his enemies into inanimate objects, slowly and painfully depriving them of consciousness, taking life.

5. Forty wolves

The Wicked Witch sends forty wolves in pursuit of Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tinsmith. And while the friends run away from them in fear, the fearless Lumberjack enters into a skirmish with the predators, safely decapitating them all. So a poppy field with a poisonous aroma compared to a bloody mess is flowers.

6. Jack Pumpkinhead

Over time, Baum introduces a new character named Jack Pumpkinhead, who is very similar to Jack the Pumpkin King in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He's a true Halloween lover, all in spider paws with a big pumpkin for a head, and that head rots just like a real pumpkin. When he travels through Oz, his head starts to sink in and fall apart, which makes him even more terrible. Therefore, he is constantly looking for a replacement for her.

7. Wheels

In his third book, Ozma of Oz, Baum describes wheeled vehicles with their hair on end. People are not people whose arms and legs are the same length, which is why they constantly have to roll on all fours, because instead of feet and hands they have wheels that help them to move in space at lightning speed.

8. Patchwork

One of the scariest illustrations comes in the form of a human-sized Patchwork Girl. The Patchwork Girl is a rag doll made from quilt scraps with pearl teeth and a felt tongue. When Patchwork first comes to life, she spills a magical liquid that turns her creators to stone. Some believe that Patchwork was influential in the creation of Raggedy Annie, who, thankfully, is not at all like John R. Neal's illustrations.

9. Porcelain dolls

One of the many scenes missed in the adaptation of the first book of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series is a small Chinese country. In the South Quadrant of Oz, deep in an enchanted forest, lurks an eerie little place full of sentient china dolls. While some of the dolls are intact, others are cracked and deformed. Once a porcelain man is cracked, it is very difficult to fix it. The book describes a large number of cracked dolls with mutilated bodies, their faces are ugly, and their necks are bent.

10. Slaughterhouse

In the film, when Dorothy first meets the Scarecrow, they dance together along the yellow brick road. In the book, the Scarecrow, rejoicing in his freedom, decides to take revenge on the crows that tormented him when he was a scarecrow.

In front of Dorothy's eyes, he begins to break the necks of hundreds of crows and is described as standing in a pile of black feathers and blood. Dorothy, amazed by what she saw, without thinking twice, invites the Scarecrow to share the path ahead with her, and they go on a journey together.

11. Kalidasa

Kalidasa are creatures with bodies like bears, heads like tigers, and claws long and sharp enough to rip a Lion in two. The Cowardly Lion, like most of the inhabitants of Oz, is afraid of the Kalidas.

However, W. W. Denslow's original illustrations make them look more like real tigers.

The Kalidasa attacked Dorothy and her friends more than once, and each time it was a chilling story, surprisingly ending with a happy ending.

12. Revenge of the edible people

In the seventeenth chapter of "The Emerald City", Dorothy and her friends meet Banbury - a delicious-smelling village where the Earth is made of flour and houses are made of crackers and breadsticks. Banbury people are edible, and they try to hide so they don't get eaten. However, Toto manages to eat a little, which is not surprising if you think so. Later, the villagers try to take revenge on the offenders, and Mr. Bunn threatens to bake Dorothy and her friends in large ovens.

13. Other oddities

This is just a small part of the violence described in the books. And if you dig deeper, you can find a lot of other unpleasant moments. For example, Tin can informs, not without pleasure, that the evil sorcerer who invented the magic powder fell into the abyss and crashed.

In the same chapter, the blue bear choked on a fishbone; in another chapter, the cat Eureka, who was put on trial, was sentenced to be decapitated. However, the Ogre was put in a cage so that he would no longer eat people, and this despite the fact that the last time he ate a monkey …

Continuing the theme - "Alice in Wonderland", or how the fate of Lewis Carroll.