Inferno in Oz - 2 : 4

Let us take a moment, friends,

Observe the whole violent ado

As little bird on languid limb,

And have a quick review:

Dorothy, infused with rage

Aided by her faithful beast

Journeys north, while the Tin Man

Ventures from the east.

His charge? To locate Oscar Diggs

(The Wiz - though hardly "Wonderful"),

Drag him home to face his wrong,

And make him pay in full.

Meanwhile, Oscar and his guard

(the stoic, copper Tik-Tok man),

Sneaks the Munchkin countryside

(All part of the plan:

First, his hunter, Man of Tin;

A threat he'll need to neutralize --

For that, the Wiz knows just the thing:

A girl with bright blue eyes.)

Glinda, Witch of purest Good,

Rises from the southern ground,

Tilts her head toward the sky,

And makes a whistling sound.

They come in flocks of five or six,

Thundering across the sky:

A hundred angry dragon-apes

With wings to let them fly.

"Take me to the City, friends --

We haven't any time to lose!

I've got to stop this awful war,

And I'm out of magic shoes!"

The lion-kitten, full of fear,

Hiding in the tallest trees,

Spies a cornfield to the west,

And smiles at what he sees.

"The Scarecrow! Thank my lucky stars!

He'll help make things right again,

I shall join him presently -- 

And have him use his brain!"

While at home in Emeraldville,

Guard of greenish whisker hair

Bravely guards the palace gate

(from underneath a chair). 

And worst of all, King Ruggedo

Leads his fearsome Nomish hordes;

A monstrous trek toward the throne

Behind the emerald doors. 

Thus, with that bit squared away,

And all the armies in the fore,

Let us to our tale return;

And brace for fire and war. 

(End of Act II.)

---

- © Jackson Cambridge, 2016.