Wishing Tree

Sykotica Preview Layouts

VOLUME CXXXII: Wishing Tree

"No, my head is quite empty," answered the Woodman. "But once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart."

"And why is that?" asked the Scarecrow.

"I will tell you my story, and then you will know."

So, while they were walking through the forest, the Tin Woodman told the following story:

"I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in the forest and sold the wood for a living. When I grew up, I too became a woodchopper, and after my father died I took care of my old mother as long as she lived. Then I made up my mind that instead of living alone I would marry, so that I might not become lonely.

"There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautiful that I soon grew to love her with all my heart. She, on her part, promised to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money to build a better house for her; so I set to work harder than ever. But the girl lived with an old woman who did not want her to marry anyone, for she was so lazy she wished the girl to remain with her and do the cooking and the housework. So the old woman went to the Wicked Witch of the East, and promised her two sheep and a cow if she would prevent the marriage. Thereupon the Wicked Witch enchanted my axe, and when I was chopping away at my best one day, for I was anxious to get the new house and my wife as soon as possible, the axe slipped all at once and cut off my left leg.

"This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a one-legged man could not do very well as a wood-chopper. So I went to a tinsmith and had him make me a new leg out of tin. The leg worked very well, once I was used to it. But my action angered the Wicked Witch of the East, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the pretty Munchkin girl. When I began chopping again, my axe slipped and cut off my right leg. Again I went to the tinsmith, and again he made me a leg out of tin. After this the enchanted axe cut off my arms, one after the other; but, nothing daunted, I had them replaced with tin ones. The Wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my head, and at first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinsmith happened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.

"I thought I had beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than ever; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be. She thought of a new way to kill my love for the beautiful Munchkin maiden, and made my axe slip again, so that it cut right through my body, splitting me into two halves. Once more the tinsmith came to my help and made me a body of tin, fastening my tin arms and legs and head to it, by means of joints, so that I could move around as well as ever. But, alas! I had now no heart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin girl, and did not care whether I married her or not. I suppose she is still living with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.

"My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proud of it and it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me. There was only one danger--that my joints would rust; but I kept an oil-can in my cottage and took care to oil myself whenever I needed it. However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and, being caught in a rainstorm, before I thought of the danger my joints had rusted, and I was left to stand in the woods until you came to help me. It was a terrible thing to undergo, but during the year I stood there I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth; but no one can love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved to ask Oz to give me one. If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin maiden and marry her."

[...]

"That is because you have no brains" answered the girl. "No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."

The Scarecrow sighed.

"Of course I cannot understand it," he said. "If your heads were stuffed with straw, like mine, you would probably all live in the beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains."

"Won't you tell me a story, while we are resting?" asked the child.

The Scarecrow looked at her reproachfully, and answered:

"My life has been so short that I really know nothing whatever. I was only made day before yesterday. What happened in the world before that time is all unknown to me. Luckily, when the farmer made my head, one of the first things he did was to paint my ears, so that I heard what was going on. There was another Munchkin with him, and the first thing I heard was the farmer saying, How do you like those ears?'

"They aren't straight," answered the other.

"Never mind," said the farmer. "They are ears just the same," which was true enough.

"Now I'll make the eyes," said the farmer. So he painted my right eye, and as soon as it was finished I found myself looking at him and at everything around me with a great deal of curiosity, for this was my first glimpse of the world.

"That's a rather pretty eye," remarked the Munchkin who was watching the farmer. "Blue paint is just the color for eyes.'



Sykotica Notes: Why does it feel like it's been forever since we've last seen her drawings? It's only been ten layouts. Yeah, we're back! With a branch from the great Tree of Fullfillment. Hang in there little wish. Hang in there. I could've animated it with the amount of little wishes she drew but I didn't. Why? We'll never know.

Layout Reference: #15 Shattered Heart

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
hateful
January 13, 2016: If you are having trouble viewing the layout on your stories, read the latest notice. Chapter 189.

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
MovedGirl
#1
Hello I am sorry to bother I have a problem. I bought yesterday a layout from you the 'Winter death' and put it on my foreword of my story but when I press view next to the rose it writes: [CONTENTID3]Surround text in your story with these tags to display it here[/CONTENTID3] [CONTENTID2]Surround text in your story with these tags to display it here[/CONTENTID2] [CONTENTID2]Surround text in your story with these tags to display it here[/CONTENTID2] [CONTENTID2]Surround text in your story with these tags to display it here[/CONTENTID2] [CONTENTID2]Surround text in your story with these tags to display it here[/CONTENTID2] How can I put that away?
dancingpasta
#2
Chapter 37: how can i buy this layout?
Suhyo07
#3
Chapter 90: Bought this as well, thxxxxx
Dreamying
#4
Chapter 118: Loving this one
Dreamying
#5
Chapter 17: Brought it so pretty.. and gonna buy many more.. all are lovely
Suhyo07
#6
Chapter 62: Bought this~ so pretty thanks a lot! Will definetely come back ;)
toska-
#7
Chapter 40: all of these layouts are just- such beauty /cry/.
bought this one but will probably be back for more tbh haha.
Blaqpearl
#8
Chapter 41: I'm using this one and oh my God I really have to say--you're amazing! Keep up the great works! :D
solcompass #9
Scrolling through and I would like to compliment you on these layouts. They're lovely!
MoroccanBlackDragon
#10
Chapter 123: I have some vampire stories, but I don't know what Layout to use for them (I have everything in this shop in my layout list) Can someone suggest things for me? It is angsty and romantic