Chapter Three
Since this is the third day of my celebrating I’m beginning to get a bit loopy. I may be close to having my fill of Oz for a while so after this post there will only be one more day to see whatever else I might have come up with. If you’ve been here throughout my Oz posts you’ve either learned a lot about Oz or are sure I’m over the rainbow and need to be put away somewhere that has soft walls, bars on the windows and locks on the doors.
Today I have yet another subject to cover and that is all there is to know about Glinda the Good Witch of Oz not just a pretty face she’s smart and powerful too, or at least this was what I thought when I was a young girl reading the books and watching the movie.
When I saw Glinda the first time I was so impressed. Hey, I was a young girl and in those days I was all about pretty and shiny things. (Still am) What little girl wouldn’t want a dress just like the one in the movie? I could picture myself wearing that dress and spinning in circles and watching that dress float out around me. Heck, it floated out to infinity without the spinning. I’d never seen anything like it. Then there was that gorgeous crown. Can you name any little girl you know who wouldn’t want to have that crown? I still want that crown and I’m not that little girl anymore. Then you have to give Glinda credit for making an entrance. Now that’s showmanship if nothing else. Compared to the other grown women in the movie, Auntie Em, nice but as plain as bread pudding and that awful Miss Gulch who scared the little wimpy girl I was back then so badly I had nightmares where she was chasing me on her bicycle. Then the Wicked Witch who looked so much like that awful Miss Gulch except maybe even scarier and compared to them Glinda was like nothing I’d ever seen and everything I wanted to be.
My idea of Glinda
Glinda and Dorothy in Munchkin Land
As I’ve mentioned a time or two in the past few days I read all of the Oz books that our public library had to offer and I continued reading them through the years whenever I found one at the book store or library. These are some of the things those books had to say about Glinda the Good Witch.
Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz refers to Glinda as the Good Witch of the South. She finally gets Dorothy home by telling her of the power of the silver slippers. She gets the Golden Cap from Dorothy, and uses it to get the Scarecrow back to the Emerald city, the Tin Man to the land of the Winkies, and the Lion to a nearby forest, areas which the characters have been made rulers of. Later books call her a "Sorceress" rather than a "witch." Baum's writings make clear that he did not view witches as inherently wicked or in league with the Devil, so this change was probably meant to signal that Glinda's knowledge and command of magic surpassed that of a witch.
In the books, Glinda is depicted as a beautiful young woman with long, rich red hair and blue eyes, wearing a pure white dress. When I made my version of Glinda I chose to go with the movie version, dressing her all in pink. She is much older than her appearance would suggest, but "knows how to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived" - a fact that is established in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by the ‘Soldier With Green Whiskers.’ She has ruled the Quadling Country ever since she overthrew the Wicked Witch of the South during the period when Ozma's grandfather was king of Oz.
She plays the most active role in finding and restoring Princess Ozma, the rightful heir, to the throne of Oz, the search for whom takes place in the second book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, although Glinda had been searching for Ozma ever since the princess disappeared as a baby. It may well be that she didn't overthrow the Wicked Witches of the East and West, despite being more powerful than they were, because she wanted all of Oz to be unified under its rightful ruler, Ozma, first. After Ozma's ascent to the throne, Glinda continues to help the Queen of Oz to shape the future of the Land of Oz as a whole, no longer confining her powers to guarding her Quadling Kingdom in the South alone; true to her character, Glinda does not interfere in affairs of State unless Ozma seeks her counsel or help specifically.
In addition to her vast knowledge of magic Glinda employs various tools, charms, and instruments in her workshop. The Emerald City of Oz reveals that she owns a Great Book of Records that allows her to track everything that goes on in the world from the instant it happens. Starting with The Road to Oz she trains the formerly humbug Wizard in magic; he becomes a formidable practitioner, but acknowledges that she is more powerful yet.
Glinda lives in a palace near the southern border of the Quadling Country, attended by fifty beautiful maidens from each country of Oz. She also employs a large army of female soldiers, with which she takes on General Jinjur's Army of Revolt, who had conquered the Emerald City in The Marvelous Land of Oz. Men are not prominent in Glinda's court.
Glinda is strongly protective of her subjects in the South. She creates gated communities for the rabbits of Bunnybury and the paper dolls of Miss Cuttenclip, showing a personal interest in the concerns of not only the humanoid Quadlings, but also the other inhabitants of her jurisdiction.
In The Emerald City of Oz, when Ozma goes to consult Glinda about the security of her Ozian citizens, the Sorceress seals off all of Oz from the ‘Great Outside World,’ making Oz invisible to the eyes of mortals flying overhead in airplanes and such. However, unlike Ozma, Glinda is willing to ignore strife and oppression in remote corners of Oz like Jinxland and the Skeezers territory as long as it does not threaten the Emerald City or innocent outsiders. The readers are left with the sense that Glinda is experienced and seasoned to the point of knowing that there isn't a magic cure for everything, and that certain things cannot be changed or perhaps should not be changed for better or for worse.
One of the more obscure facts about Glinda is that she created the Forbidden Fountain with the Waters of Oblivion, at the center of Oz, whose waters redeemed a former King of Oz who was exceptionally cruel. This happened "many centuries ago" according to Queen Ozma (again alluding to Glinda's advanced age), and it is this fountain that saves Oz from the invading Nome King and his allies in The Emerald City of Oz , by making them forget their nefarious intentions. Glinda clearly made the Fountain at a point in Oz's history when the Land was unified under one of the members of the Royal Family of Oz, albeit a tyrannical king in this isolated incident, and so she was able to intervene in a way that she couldn't when the country was divided between the Wizard and the Wicked Witches of the East and West et al., prior to Dorothy's arrival. Most intriguingly, in The Emerald City of Oz, when the Nome King considers invading Oz, he is told by a minion, General Guph, that Glinda the Good's castle is located "at the north of the Emerald City," when it has been established that Glinda rules the South. Guph may have gotten his facts muddled, as none of the Nomes had been to Oz at that time, but it portends the depiction of Glinda as the Good Witch of the North rather than the South in the 1939 MGM film (which is the most widely known version of Oz to date).
General Guph also tells the Nome King that Glinda "commands the spirits of the air, this statement made by Guph once again foreshadows a much later cinematic rendition of Glinda, in the film version of the Broadway musical The Wiz in which Glinda is responsible for the twister that brings Dorothy's house to Oz and sets all subsequent events into motion.
Of all the characters in L. Frank Baum's Oz, Glinda is the most enigmatic. Despite being titled "Glinda the Good," she is not a one-dimensional caricature whose sole purpose is to embody and generate all that is generically considered "good," as indicated above.
She ultimately becomes the adult anchor in the Oz books, because she is never distracted or swayed, and always maintains absolute firmness of purpose - something that cannot be said for the other adult characters in the series such as the Wizard and the Shaggy Man or even the Good Witch of the North. They all fall short of Glinda's wisdom and resoluteness.
In the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz, Glinda is the Good Witch of the North, not the South as in the book. Glinda performs the functions of not only the novel's Good Witch of the North and Good Witch of the South, but also the novel's Queen of Field Mice, by being the one who welcomes Dorothy to Oz, sends her "off to see the Wizard," and orchestrates her rescue from the deadly poppy field in addition to revealing the secret to going back home.
That is what most of the Oz the books have to say about Glinda but there are those who have a different tale to tell. Oma Linda has another version that you may care to read and then you can decide for yourself. Is Glinda the witch she’s purported to be? Or has it all been a cover-up to keep us all safe but confused? Who knows? Maybe after reading what Oma Linda has to say you might have other ideas and decide to join ‘Team Green’.
The following is a list of books that have been written about Oz starting with the one you all are most familiar with.
L. Frank Baum (1856 – 1919)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ~ 1900
The Marvelous Land of Oz ~ 1904
Ozma of Oz ~ 1907
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz ~ 1908
The Road to Oz ~ 1909
The Emerald City of Oz ~ 1910
The Patchwork Girl of Oz ~ 1913
Tic-Tok of Oz ~ 1914
The Scarecrow of Oz ~ 1915
Rinkitink in Oz ~1916
The Lost Princess of Oz ~1917
The Tin Woodman of Oz ~ 1918
The Magic of Oz ~ 1919
Glinda of Oz ~ 1920
Due to the popularity of the Oz books a second author, Ruth Plumly Thompson stepped in after Baum’s death and wrote nineteen books to add to the original series then thirty three years later another book was published the year she died a one last book was published.
Ruth Plumly Thompson (1891 – 1976)
The Royal Book of Oz ~ 1921
Kabump in Oz ~ 1922
The Cowardly Lion of Oz ~ 1923
Grampa in Oz ~ 1924
The Lost King of Oz ~ 1925
The Hungry Tiger of Oz ~ 1926
The Gnome King of Oz ~ 1927
The Giant Horse of Oz ~ 1928
Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz ~ 1929
The Yellow Knight of Oz ~ 1930
Pirates in Oz ~ 1931
The Purple Prince of Oz ~ 1932
Ojo in Oz ~ 1933
Speedy in Oz ~ 1934
The Wishing Horse of Oz ~ 1935
Captain Salt in Oz ~ 1936
Handy Mandy in Oz ~ 1937
The Silver Princess in Oz ~ 1938
Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz ~ 1939
Yankee in Oz ~ 1972
The Enchanted Island of Oz ~ 1976
I find it interesting that the illustrator John R. Neill who did the illustrations for all of the Oz books written by L. Frank Baum except for the first one and nineteen of the ones written by Ruth Plumly Thompson ended up writing and illustrating three more books to add to the series.
John R. Neill (1877 – 1943)
The Wonder City of Oz ~ 1940
The Scalawagons of Oz ~ 1941
Lucky Bucky in Oz ~ 1942
The Runaway in Oz was released after his death in 1995
The next author to tell us tales of Oz was Jack Snow who contributed two more books to the series. He later wrote a book introducing us to over 630 characters from the first 39 Oz books.
Jack Snow (1907 – 1956)
The Magical Mimics in Oz ~ 1946
The Shaggy Man of Oz ~ 1949
Who’s Who in Oz ~ 1954
Rachel R. Cosgrove (1922 – 1998)
The Hidden Valley of Oz ~ 1951
The Wicked Witch of Oz ~ 1993
Eloise Jarvis McGraw with Lauren Lynn McGraw
Merry Go Round in Oz ~ 1963
The Forbidden Fountain of Oz ~ 1980
Eloise Jarvis McGraw (1915 – 2000)
The Rundelstone of Oz ~ 2000
More works about Oz:
Dick Martin
The Ozmapolitan of Oz ~ 1986
Edward Einhorn
Paradox in Oz ~ 1999
The Living House of Oz ~ 2005
Dave Hardenbrook
The Unknown Witches of Oz ~ 2000
Gregory Maguire has written four book based on Oz the Wicked Years and this series of books has a slightly different view of Oz and his work has become some of my favorites. As I mentioned in an earlier post this was the first time the Wicked Witch of the West was given a name.
Wicked ~ 1995
Son of a Witch ~ 2005
A Lion Among Men ~ 2008
Out of Oz ~ 2011
James Howe
Mr. Tinker in Oz ~ 2000
Sherwood Smith
The Emerald Wand of Oz ~ 2005
Trouble Under Oz ~ 2006
Margaret Baum
The Silver Tower of Oz ~ 2011
Frank Joslyn Baum L. Frank Baum’s son
The Laughing Dragon of Oz ~ 1934
Philip Jose Farmer
The Barnstormer in Oz ~1982
Roger S. Baum L. Frank Baum’s great grandson
Dorothy of Oz ~ 1989
Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage ~ 1995
Joan D. Vinge
Return to Oz ~ 1985
Note: The book cover art that appears throughout the list are from the works of L. Frank Baum.
Books of Oz have been published as recently as 2011 and no doubt there will be more in the future. This book list I put together has over sixty titles written by numerous authors although many fans believe the only books of Oz worth reading are the ones written by Baum.
If you believe that to be true you just might be missing out on reading some very entertaining books. For the most part I’ve enjoyed each and every one that I’ve read although there are some that were written more for children than those of us who are only child-like.
I have only one post left for my Celebrate Oz offerings that is the one tomorrow where Dillywink will find out where he’ll be spending his time in the future. If you’re interested in finding out where that will be come back here tomorrow and see. Once again, you have until midnight tonight to enter the drawing.
Hope you’re having a great weekend and as always, thanks for stopping by.
