Bungle, the Glass Cat is a character in the Oz books of L. Frank Baum .
37-649: Bungle first appears in The Patchwork Girl of Oz , the seventh of Baum's fourteen Oz books. The magician Dr. Pipt tests his Powder of Life by animating an ornamental glass cat figurine , for the specific purpose of catching mice for his wife Margolotte. But the Glass Cat turns out to be exceptionally vain, and unwilling to do any work. Margolotte names it Bungle. The Glass Cat is transparent, except for her hard blood-red ruby heart, two large emeralds for eyes, and her bright pink brains, which look rather like
74-948: A cyclone . Munchkin Country's ruler was the Wicked Witch of the East but upon Dorothy's arrival in Oz, she is eliminated when the house lands on top of her, causing much celebration among the Munchkins. Princess Ozma 's party visited the King of the Munchkins on their return from the Dominions of the Nome King , and found Jinjur working in his employ. This king also appears briefly in The Road to Oz . Ruth Plumly Thompson 's books identify
111-443: A collection of marbles and can be seen working in the cat's head. She has a tail of spun-glass. In personality, Bungle is almost stereotypically catlike—cool and reserved and aloof as well as vain. The cat "is so determined not to show emotion that when implored to bring help she sets off very slowly and runs only when out of sight." Baum was unusual in creating a character that is transparent but visible. (Baum magically animates
148-459: A dark well, a drop of oil from a live man's body, and three hairs from a Woozy's tail. Scraps exhibits a wild, carefree personality, and she is prone to spontaneous recitation of nonsense poetry. After several adventures, they meet a Woozy, a blocky quadruped who agrees to let them have three hairs from its tail—but they are unable to remove the hairs, so they take the Woozy along with them. The party
185-556: A musical stage adaptation of the book, circa 1913, with composer Louis F. Gottschalk ; however, this musical was never staged. Excerpts have occasionally been performed at annual conventions of The International Wizard of Oz Club . While Baum's work as a whole is occasionally criticized for using what may be seen as racial and ethnic stereotypes, the Patchwork Girl has come in for particular criticism. Robin Bernstein suggests
222-565: A number of author's imaginations and appeared more prominently in later publications. Bungle appears in "Welcome to the Bungle" in Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz . Unlike her book counterpart, Bungle acts like a real cat as she chases a mouse around Emerald City. The Patchwork Girl of Oz The Patchwork Girl of Oz is the seventh book in L. Frank Baum 's Oz series . Characters include
259-600: A race of vegetable people comparable to the Mangaboos in Chapters 4–6 of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz . The vegetable people grow what Baum elsewhere calls "meat people", apparently for food; Neill's pictures show plants with the heads of human children being watered by their growers. (This is thematically connected with the anthropophagous plants in Chapter 10 of Patchwork Girl. ) Frank Reilly tactfully wrote to Baum that
296-658: A set of creatures called the Tottenhots, likely meant to be a play on the ethnic term Hottentots . Munchkin Country Munchkin Country or Munchkinland , as it is referred to in the famous MGM musical film version , is the fictional eastern region of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum 's Oz books , first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Munchkin Country is in
333-404: A sort of inspiration, liable to strike me at any time, but the plot and plan of adventures takes me considerable time ... I live with it day by day, jotting down on odd slips of paper the various ideas that occur and in this way getting my materials together. The new Oz book is at this stage. ... But ... it's a long way from being ready for the printer yet. I must rewrite it, stringing
370-425: A spun-glass animal in an earlier story, though the dog is not transparent but pink, with a blue ribbon around its neck and shiny black glass eyes.) Through its incessant prowling throughout the Land of Oz , however, the Glass Cat has acquired intimate knowledge of its complex terrain; and it is generally willing to exploit this knowledge to the benefit of Dorothy and her friends. In The Magic of Oz , for example,
407-599: Is a vast province in eastern Oz, filled with huge farmlands, known as the "Corn Basket" and small towns and villages scattered all around, the famous Yellow Brick Road runs all over the region from the town of Center Munch to the southern gate of the Emerald City, known as Munchkin Mousehole, just outside a forested area known as the Pine Barrens; there are also some lakes, such as Mossmere, Illswater and Restwater,
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#1732783328032444-651: Is captured by large animate plants, but they are rescued by the fortuitous arrival of the Shaggy Man . He leads them to the Emerald City to meet Princess Ozma , but warns Ojo that picking a six-leaved clover is forbidden by law in Oz. Along the way they meet the Scarecrow , who is quite smitten with Scraps, as she is with him. Just outside the Emerald City, Ojo sees a six-leaved clover by the road and, believing himself to be unobserved, picks it. When they arrive at
481-641: The Wicked Witch of the West , and her younger sister Nessarose (although in the novel, they grew up in Quadling Country ). In the Broadway musical Wicked , based on the novel, their father is the governor of Munchkinland. In both adaptations, Nessarose eventually comes to power but her corrupt rule earns her loathing by the Munchkinlanders and the name, "Wicked Witch of the East". Like all
518-612: The Wizard of Oz restores them to life. Ojo and Unc Nunkie are given a new house to live in near the Emerald City and the Tin Woodsman renames Ojo "Ojo the Lucky". In reference to The Patchwork Girl of Oz, one of Baum's letters to his publisher, Sumner Britton of Reilly & Britton , offers unusual insight on Baum's manner of creating his Oz fantasies: A lot of thought is required on one of these fairy tales. The odd characters are
555-535: The Woozy , Ojo "the Unlucky", Unc Nunkie , Dr. Pipt , Scraps (the patchwork girl), and others. The novel was first published on July 1, 1913, with illustrations by John R. Neill . In 1914, Baum adapted the book to film through his Oz Film Manufacturing Company . The book was followed by Tik-Tok of Oz (1914). In the previous Oz book, The Emerald City of Oz , magic was used to isolate Oz from all contact with
592-468: The East, noted by later being ruled by the Wicked Witch of the East. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , it was originally called "the land of Munchkins", but is referred to as "Munchkin Country" in all subsequent Oz books. Munchkin Country is linked to Oz's imperial capital the Emerald City by means of the yellow brick road . The native inhabitants of this quadrant are called Munchkins. In the story,
629-472: The East. John R. Neill 's Oz books name the Scarecrow as king of the Munchkins, although this contradicts the previous books. He is never shown in this capacity; he is simply stated to be so. In The Patchwork Girl of Oz , it is revealed that parts of the Yellow Brick Road have Man-Eating Plants near them. In Gregory Maguire 's novels, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of
666-574: The Glass Cat guides the rescue party that saves Trot and Cap'n Bill from entrapment on the Magic Isle. And the Cat is virtually invulnerable to harm, which is a great advantage in its various adventures. It was quickly reasoned that it was Bungle's pink brains that had made her so conceited, and at the end of The Patchwork Girl of Oz , the Wizard of Oz replaced them with clear ones to make her more agreeable. After her adventures in that book with Ojo
703-585: The Land of Oz in its entirety. For currently unknown reasons, this map switches the directions of east and west. The revised version of the map published by the International Wizard of Oz Club corrects the directions and reverses the map. Munchkin Country is distinguished by the color blue , which is worn by most of the Munchkins, as well as the color of their surroundings. While the Eastern part of
740-560: The Lucky and the Patchwork Girl , the Cat ended up being a pet of Princess Ozma in the Emerald City . But in The Magic of Oz , a few books later, her brains were pink again and her original personality had returned, including her catch phrase about the superiority of her brains: "They're pink, and you can see 'em work." Although never a main character in the Oz books considered canonical by Oz enthusiasts, Bungle has captured
777-624: The Munchkin Country is described as rich, beautiful, fertile and pleasant, and inhabited by friendly people, the Western part of the province (i.e., the region bordered by a large forest and the area surrounding the Emerald City) is wild, rough and dangerous. Certain areas of this land are densely forested, and inhabited by ferocious beasts. Munchkin Country is the site where Dorothy Gale 's house lands after being carried to Oz by
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#1732783328032814-455: The Patchwork Girl character was influenced by Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin and points out she was created by Dr. Pipt's wife to be a slave. Moreover, the original text included a song (by the similarly animated Phonograph) about "mah coal black Lulu"; the lyric, evocative of minstrelsy, was changed in later editions to "my cross-eyed Lulu". Similarly problematic is the inclusion in the book of
851-428: The West and Son of a Witch (which use "Munchkinland"), the characters are not all Munchkins, and so they are actually called Munchkinlanders. In these books (unlike the more famous movie), Munchkins are generally shorter than average height, though the more powerful families, as Frexspar said, "married into some height along the way." Maguire portrays Munchkinland as the corn belt of Oz, geographically, Munchkinland
888-598: The biggest lake of the nation and the birthplace of the Munchkin River that runs along the road and between the corn fields, the Madeleines at the west make the natural border with Gillikin and the mountainous hills within the Quadling Kells are the borders of the southern Quadling Country, The mines of The Glikkus are located directly north. Munchkinland is also shown to be the native home of Elphaba , or
925-524: The castle of the Tin Woodsman who rules the Winkie Country , since yellow butterflies can be found only in that yellow-dominated quadrant of Oz. While talking to the Tin Woodsman, Ojo notices a drop of oil about to drip from his body, and he catches it in a vial. He explains that he now has all the ingredients except one; however, when he describes the last one, the Tin Woodsman is horrified at
962-629: The city gates, the Soldier with the Green Whiskers approaches them and announces that Ojo is under arrest. Brought to trial before Ozma, Ojo confesses and Ozma pardons him and allows him to keep the clover. Dorothy and the Scarecrow join Ojo and Scraps as they continue their search for the remaining ingredients. Along the way they meet Jack Pumpkinhead , the playful but annoying Tottenhots, and
999-488: The fabulous Baron Munchausen . He also points out that the 1961 Russian edition derives the name from the verb "to munch." Evan Schwartz suggests a reference to the Münchner Kindl . The publishing company Reilly & Britton (later Reilly & Lee) published, in the form of end-papers to the first edition of Tik-Tok of Oz (1914), one of the Oz books , the only authenticated map (reproduced here) that shows
1036-426: The idea of killing an innocent butterfly, and forbids them from doing so in his realm. Ojo is devastated, but the Tin Woodsman proposes that they all travel back to the Emerald City to ask Ozma's advice. Ozma tells them that Dr. Pipt has been practicing magic illegally and has therefore been deprived of his powers. But the petrified Unc Nunkie and Pipt's wife have been brought to the Emerald City and, as they all watch,
1073-410: The incidents into consecutive order, elaborating the characters, etc. Then it's typewritten. Then it's revised, retypewritten and sent on to Reilly and Britton. The same correspondence (November 23–27, 1912) discusses the deleted Chapter 21 of the book, "The Garden of Meats". The text of the chapter has not survived, but Neill's illustrations and their captions still exist. The deleted chapter dealt with
1110-672: The king of the Munchkin Country as Cheeriobed . He rules from the Sapphire City in the Ozure Isles , with his wife, Queen Orin , and son, Prince Philador . He is introduced by name in The Giant Horse of Oz and makes a subsequent appearance in The Wishing Horse of Oz . In some of Thompson's Oz books, the geography is inverted, with the Munchkin Country in the Western part of Oz and the Winkie Country in
1147-485: The man-eating 21-foot-tall giant Mr. Yoop , before reaching the subterranean dwellings of the Hoppers, who each have just one leg, and the neighboring Horners, who each have one horn on their head. The two groups are on the verge of war due to a misunderstanding, but Scraps reconciles them. A grateful Horner leads the group to a well in a dark radium mine, and Ojo collects a flask of water from it. The group continues to
Glass Cat - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-414: The material was not "in harmony with your other fairy stories", and would generate "considerable adverse criticism". Baum saw his point; the chapter was dropped. At least at one point in his life, Baum stated that he considered The Patchwork Girl of Oz "one of the two best books of my career", the other being The Sea Fairies . The book was a popular success, selling just over 17,000 copies—though this
1221-483: The novel's protagonist Dorothy Gale , attends a celebration upon her arrival to Oz at the mansion of Boq , who is the friendliest and wealthiest Munchkin man. "Munchkin" does not necessarily mean someone of short stature. Many Munchkins portrayed in the books are of normal height, most notably Nick Chopper (also known as the Tin Woodman ). Michael Patrick Hearn suggests the name Munchkin may have been inspired by
1258-446: The outside world. Baum did this to end the Oz series, but was forced to restart the series with this book due to financial hardship. In the prologue, he reconciles Oz's isolation with the appearance of a new Oz book by explaining that he contacted Dorothy in Oz via a wireless telegraph , and she obtained Ozma's permission to tell Baum this story. Ojo , known as Ojo the Unlucky, lives in poverty with his laconic uncle Unc Nunkie in
1295-403: The patchwork girl, but an accident causes both Pipt's wife and Unc Nunkie to be turned to stone. Dr. Pipt tells Ojo that he must obtain five ingredients to make a compound to counteract the petrifaction spell. Ojo and the patchwork girl (who names herself Scraps), along with Bungle, embark on a journey to obtain the magic ingredients: a six-leaved clover, the wing of a yellow butterfly, water from
1332-635: The woods of the Munchkin Country in Oz . They visit their neighbor, the magician Dr. Pipt who is about to complete the six-year process of preparing the magical Powder of Life, which can bring inanimate objects to life. Pipt's wife has constructed a life-sized stuffed girl out of patchwork , and she wishes her husband to animate her to serve as an obedient household servant. They also meet another of Pipt's creations, Bungle, an extremely vain talking cat made of glass. The Powder of Life successfully animates
1369-466: Was somewhat lower than the total for the previous book, The Emerald City of Oz, and marked the start of a trend in declining sales for the Oz books that did not reverse until The Tin Woodman of Oz in 1918. Baum wrote and produced a film based on the book, titled The Patchwork Girl of Oz . It was made by Baum's studio The Oz Film Manufacturing Company and was released in 1914. Baum also wrote
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