"
The three Adepts could not avoid laughing merrily,
for not only were they amused by the queer form of the
Patchwork Girl, but Trot's enthusiastic speech struck
them as really funny. If the Great Sorceress and the
famous Wizard and the three talented Adepts at Magic
were unable as yet to solve the important problem of
the sunken isle, there was little chance for a patched
girl stuffed with cotton to succeed.
But Glinda, smiling indulgently at the earnest faces
turned toward her, patted the children's heads and
said:
"Scraps is very clever. Tell us what she has thought
of, my dear."
"Well," said Trot, "Scraps says that if you could dry
up all the water in the lake the island would be on dry
land, an' everyone could come and go whenever they
liked."
Glinda smiled again, but the Wizard said to the
girls:
"If we should dry up the lake, what would become of
all the beautiful fishes that now live in the water?"
"Dear me! That's so," admitted Betsy, crestfallen; "we
never thought of that, did we Trot?"
"Couldn't you transform 'em into polliwogs?" asked
Scraps, turning a somersault and then standing on one
leg. "You could give them a little, teeny pond to swim
in, and they'd be just as happy as they are as fishes.
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