BEFORE THE ACTION
 
Ruggedo becomes king of Menankypoo in AM - sleeps for 3 1/2 days
Pirates desert Samuel Salt - Time passes -
 
Day 1 - Ruggedo discovers Conjurer's Cave in AM ("One morning, after
  a particularly long walk"), recovers voice, meets Clocker ("exactly
  five minutes before twelve") - Ruggedo leaves cave after 12:15 -
  pirates arrive, raid Menankypoo - Ruggedo sees pirates' arrival ("their
  scimitars flashing wickedly in the afternoon sunshine"), their conquest
  of Menankypoo ("It was almost dark when the pirates reappeared"),
  returns to cave at night ("the moon had come up bright and full" and
  Ruggedo finishes his speech to Clocker at 10:10 PM) -  Ruggedo and
  Clocker face pirates & Ruggedo is elected chief - Ato deserted
  by Octagon Islanders - Samuel Salt & Peter arrive - Crescent Moon
  departs Octagon Isle toward evening ("flying under that great cloud
  of canvas straight toward the setting sun")
Day 2 - Ruggedo cows the pirates in AM ("the morning after the
  buccaneers had made him chief") - arrival of Octagon Islanders
  bolsters Ruggedo's army ("it was exactly three o'clock") - Peter,
  Samuel, Ato & Roger ("all night and all morning" the Crescent Moon
  traveled under full sail) conquer Shell City in afternoon (the island,
  on their arrival, glitters "in the noonday sun")
 
At least 2 days pass ("No land had been sighted for two days"), perhaps
longer (since the crew of the Crescent Moon has nearly finished the food
taken from Shell Island)
 
Day 5 - Crescent Moon encounters the No Bodies & Bananny Goat
Day 6 - Breakfast nearly sinks Crescent Moon - meet Duke of Dork &
  Peter frees Pigasus in AM - encounter Snow Island - at Mount Up by late evening
Day 7 - Crescent Moon becalmed
Day 8 - Ruggedo's army leaves to conquer EC in AM - Peter goes ashore on
  Mount Up "soon after the noon meal on the second day," frees Og in
  afternoon - Crescent Moon driven to Ev - Peter heads to Oz to stop
  Ruggedo, followed by Samuel & crew (Peter arrives and is stopped
  at 6:00) - Ruggedo captured by Salt & crew at 6:15 - feasting and
  merrymaking continues until "long past midnight"

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Mon Jul 2, 2001  1:44 pm
Subject:  Pirates in Oz

Halfway through re-reading "Pirates." Some preliminary reactions: This is
one of the books where RPT is making a lot of use of atmospheric
description -- Ruggedyo's relief and then dismay at the cozy, quiet, boring,
foggy atmosphere of Menankypoo, the seascapes, etc. David Hulan has
speculated in the past that although the text says Peter is 11, the fact
that it also says five years have passed since the events of "Gnome King,"
when Peter was nine, and his general behavior, suggest that he is really 14,
his age maybe edited in response to the publisher's idea of appropriate age
for likely readers' age-grouping. As I re-read, it does seem likely to me
that Peter is older than 11. The idea of the mild, scholarly pirate chief,
and the mild king whose real talent turns out to be cookery, both rejected
by their followers, in search of more Heroic Leaders, has always amused me.
It occurs to me now that the comedy of this plot turns on an expansion of
the Aesop's fable comparing King Log to King Stork -- except that this time
we're getting the reactions of the Log(s).

Ruth Berman

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Fri Jul 6, 2001  10:02 pm
Subject:  PIRATES and potentates

I've often noted connections between a Thompson books and a book by Baum
that she seems to have reread in order to depict Ozian characters or
history accurately. In PIRATES, the main forerunner seems to be RINKITINK.

The earlier book was, of course, Thompson's only precedent for an Oz
adventure set almost entirely on the Nonestic, with a brief visit to Oz at
the end. Both books involve a Nome King, a set of ruthless human
plunderers, and an island brimming with pearls. PIRATES mentions Rinkitink
in chapter 1 and Pingaree in chapter 5. Its character of Breakfast is the
first goat to appear in the Oz series since Bilbil, I believe.

Beyond those similarities of detail, however, is a thematic linkage between
the books. As I wrote when we discussed RINKITINK, that was Baum's only Oz
book about a prince preparing to rule--and very serious about his
responsibilities Inga is, too. King Rinkitink also studies "How to Be
Good," quoting from his manuscript of that name whenever he can.

The same challenge of leadership occupies several characters in PIRATES. At
the start, both Samuel Salt and Ato lose their commands because they're not
dictatorial enough. The Octagon Islanders complain that their king has
"conquered no one, made no new laws, voyages, or discoveries" [ch 5]. They
want " a new and progressive kingdom and...a King who is ambitious and
clever and who will forward our interests by battle and conquest" [ch 10].
Capt Salt admits, "I wasn't rough enough either in my talk or actions.  . .
. they only made me chief because I was clever at navigating" [ch 5].

Salt and, to a lesser extent, Ato spend a fair number of pages trying to
learn to be "rough, bluff, and relentless." The equivalent of "How to Be
Good" is the volume MAXIMS FOR MONARCHS that Roger brings along and reads
from. The most famous book of this sort in the modern Great Outside World
is Machiavelli's THE PRINCE, and Roger's advice is not unlike the usual
caricature of that book. "Both these fellows were deserted because they
were kind and easy-going," he tells Peter, "which should be a terrible
example to you, my boy. Never be kind and easy-going!" [ch 7] Twice Roger
insists, "Nobody shall say 'No' to the King" [ch 7, 11]. In general, the
Read Bird is a voice for violence and hostility when the pirates meet
strangers.

Of course, the central irony of PIRATES is that Salt, Ato, and their crew
are very bad at being very bad. The pirate chief is actually "the politest
of them all," and even Peter, who's willing to fire a cannon ball into a
stranger's home (for which the captain upbraids him), is "almost as poor a
pirate as Samuel" [ch 13]. Ato never loses his kind heart, no matter how
much Roger reads him contrary advice.

Ato and Salt provide a contrast for Ruggedo, who comes from the opposite
position. He desperately wants to be king, and then to be a conqueror. This
ambition almost costs him the puny throne of Menankypoo because the people
there are odd enough to want a passive king like Ato [ch 2]. Where Roger
must help Salt practice his anger by dropping things on his head [ch 8],
Ruggedo can achieve at the same level of vituperation from a standing
start. Indeed, Thompson acknowledges that Ruggedo "knew kinging from the
ground up," insofar as it involves demanding respect from subjects [ch
10].


Ruggedo doesn't need lessons or maxims to be the sort of king that Roger
and Machiavelli suggest. He's already "Ruggedo the Rough." He thinks of
himself instead of his people [ch 4]. He doesn't take no for an answer. (In
contrast, the first time Roger says no one can say no to a king, Peter
answers, "Ah, no!" [ch 7].) Ruggedo eliminates his strongest rivals, Binx
and Peggo; turns the Octagon women and children into prisoners and hostages
[ch 16]; then eliminates his army [ch 19]. In sum, PIRATES depicts Ruggedo
as a natural ruler of a certain sort, and Ato and Salt as unable to fill
that model.

Given that theme, it is no surprise that when Ruggedo's army invades the
Emerald City, "Ozma and her councillors were...choosing a ruler for a new
kingdom in the Gillikin Country" [ch 19]. Much of the preceding book has
been about the proper qualities of rulers. Yet despite MAXIMS FOR MONARCHS,
despite Roger's lessons, even despite Thompson's authorial aside that
Ruggedo "knew kinging," the end of PIRATES shows Ozma to be the model
ruler--or at least the most successful and powerful one.

But is Ozma a kind-hearted pushover, as Baum seems to depict her in EMERALD
CITY? Not according to chapter 20 of PIRATES. She's far more ruthless than
Capt Salt in enacting revenge on his mutinous crew and ridding the Nonestic
of pirates; she doesn't even pause to discuss her idea to transform those
men into seagulls. Ozma takes all the magical implements that arrive in the
Emerald City for herself (with the odd exception of the Hardy-hood she
gives to Roger). She feels justified in pressing the people of Menankypoo
to take back their "rightful King." And though Ozma doesn't explicitly seek
to conquer her neighbors, she summarily commissions Capt Salt to "take
possession of new countries and set the flag of Oz on far islands and
mountain tops" [ch 19]. And of course, no one can say no to Ozma.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sun Jul 8, 2001  10:35 pm
Subject:  PIRATES Roger the Read Bird

In rereading PIRATES for the first time in years, I discovered that my
memory of Roger the Read Bird was quite off-base. I remembered him as a
sort of Jiminy Cricket, providing advice to a childlike Ato. But on second
look (or fourth, or sixth), I find that Ato is mature and thoughtful while
Roger is snappish and intolerant (despite Thompson saying he has "a
pleasant and jolly disposition"--ch 5).

Indeed, Thompson frequently shows Roger as less than a paragon. He tends to
hide behind Ato when danger looms [ch 5, 8]. He alone of the CRESCENT MOON
crew gets seasick in a storm [ch 11]. He's so jealous of other animals that
he suggests making Breakfast walk the plank [ch 12] and asks of Pigasus,
"What right has a low beast like that to wings?" [ch 13] While Ato retains
his kind heart, Roger speaks "savagely" and "unfeelingly" of the rebellious
Octagon Islanders [ch 16]. In sum, if Roger represents a part of Ato's
psyche like Jiminy Cricket, it's the king's bad side rather than his good
side.

Roger dispenses advice through much of PIRATES, and not just from MAXIMS
FOR MONARCHS, but Thompson repeatedly shows that it has little value. I've
already mentioned the lesson he draws from the disloyalty of Ato's subjects
and Salt's crew: "Never be kind and easy-going" [ch 7]. But Ato, who
reproves Roger for rudeness [ch 6], and Salt, eventually succeed mostly by
being himself.

Roger's snap judgments are especially suspect. "No honest traveler wears
his handkerchief on his head," the Read Bird insists [ch 5], but within a
few chapters nearly all the book's main characters--Salt, Peter, Ato, and
the untrustworthy Ruggedo--have wrapped bandannas around their heads (in
what must have been a universal marker of playing pirate in 1931 Philadelphia).

Roger tells Peter, "Never trust an ogre. That's MY advice" [ch 15]. But as
it turns out, Ogowon may have a temper but he's reasonable about providing
wind for the CRESCENT MOON's sails and reliable enough to blow the ship
into Menankypoo harbor and no further [ch 16].

It's no surprise, therefore, that when Roger hops on Pigasus's back, he
squawks:
"I'm conceited and quite awful,
Speaking jawful after jawful
Of nonsense no one cares to hear.
Hard on the eye, worse on the ear."
Aside from an unimaginable ability to fly with "a huge green volume" [ch 5]
tucked under his wing [ch 11], then, we have to wonder about Roger's
talents.

Which makes it all the more gratifying when Roger manages to figure out how
to bring the CRESCENT MOON to port in the Emerald City. For this episode
Thompson's even switches into Roger's point of view and states that he acts
"bravely." Of course, he still retains enough of his character to be
"dazzled by his own cleverness" while he carries out his plan [ch
18].

Musing on that characterization leads me to two observations. First,
Thompson seems to have conceived Roger as a parrot with duck features:
"about the size and coloring of a parrot with a kindly face of a duck and
with a duck's bill" [ch 5]. For some reason, I find it easier to see a
parrot as conceited and judgmental than a duck. My old conception of Roger
was largely based on memories of his appearance, and Neill draws him with
not just a duck's face but a duck's long neck, wings, and webbed feet--and
we all know that if it walks like a duck, it's a duck, not a parrot.

Second, Roger belongs in a long line of animal curmudgeons from Thompson,
most notably Kabumpo but also Grumpy, Snufferbux, Nox, and so on. (Most of
her other animals fit a model of slavish, almost slobbery devotion: Snif,
Camy, Terrybubble, Ploppa, Yankee, etc.) As characters, talking animals
seem intermediate between children and adults, not exactly like young
readers yet not grown-ups either. Perhaps assigning grumpy traits to some
animals let Thompson mirror some less appealing emotional reactions from
children without seeming too harsh or frightening.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Mon Jul 9, 2001  2:05 pm
Subject:  pirates in oz

J.L.  Bell: Interesting set of comments on the potentates in "Pirates," also
interesting follow-up comments on Roger as a bad-advice-giver. I think
you're right that the story grows partly out of thinking about "Rinkitink."
Probably another source is Stevenson's "Treasure Island," with Peter as a
Jim Hawkins type tempted by what he takes to be the temptation Samuel Salt
(and Ato -- who is even referred to at one point as "the seacook") or Long
John Silver the seacook offer to turn pirate. The joy of turning pirate is
generally felt as seductive-but-inappropriate: Jim rejects it, and so do
John and Michael in "Peter Pan" -- Wendy doesn't get the chance -- but at
the end of the play, in the versions before Barrie decided to finish with
scenes of the homecoming, it ends with Peter in control of Hook's ship, and
mocking Hook's behavior in a way that has a disconcerting subtext,
considering how real any form of make-believe is to Peter. Thompson enjoyed
the idea of pirating enough write several stories (one is in the "Wizard of
Way-Up" collection) about how much fun it is to pretend to be a pirate, but
usually in the form of stories specifically about pretending to be a pirate,
not about actually being one. (In the next book but one, "Ojo," the same
fantasy of being a jolly thief with lots of power and no family or
responsibilities is going to come up again, on land, in the form of a
Robin-Hood-type instead of a Long John Silver type.) Peter takes
enthusiastically to getting to be a real pirate and showing Samuel Salt how
to do it, but as the story goes on, Peter gradually realizes what Ozma sees
at once, that Samuel Salt is basically a scholarly explorer, not a pirate at all.
The naive imperialism of the ending is a pity, and tends to undercut the
rest of the book. In terms of your joke about "of course, no one can say no
to Ozma," though -- no one gets to contradict her flat out, but it's a
noteworthy contrast between her and the kind of king admired by Ruggedo and
the pirates and the islanders that she is making the choice of a ruler for a
new Gillikin country in consultation with her councillors. Ruggedo consults
with the likes of Clocker or Kaliko or Guph only when he has no alternative
to listening to advice, and has every intention of jettisoning councillors
when his power is consolidated. There's no direct evidence to show what
becomes of Menankypoo when they're forced to have their old king back, but
perhaps his rejection for too much king-storking has taught him to value his
subjects' preference for a king-log, and he'll now get along with them, as
the Octagan Islanders presumably will with Ato, who was a king-log first to last.
Some additional flaws of detail in the ending -- all those magical
implements that Ozma disposes of were actually stolen from Kadj the Conjuror
in the first place, and he's supposed to be away only on a visit to his
daughter, Cinderbutton the Witch. What happened when he got home and found
out he wuz robbed? Did he really mean to make Clocker, meant to be the Wise
Man of Menankypoo, as machiavellian a clockwork as he turned out? Was he
content to leave Clocker in the hands of the Wizard, to be tinkered with?
Perhaps a story would be possible about how Kadj and Cinderbutton stormed
the Emerald City to recover their property, and took over reformation of
Clocker as a project they knew more about than the Wizard could. (Did Kadj
get any training as an apprentice to Smith & Tinker, I wonder?)

Ruth Berman

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Mon Jul 9, 2001  5:04 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] Pigasus (was PIRATES Roger the Read Bird)

J.  L. Bell:
>Second, Roger belongs in a long line of animal curmudgeons from Thompson,
>most notably Kabumpo but also Grumpy, Snufferbux, Nox, and so on. (Most of
>her other animals fit a model of slavish, almost slobbery devotion: Snif,
>Camy, Terrybubble, Ploppa, Yankee, etc.)

With this in mind, it is interesting to look at Pigasus, a character who
essentially changes from the latter type to the former. In PIRATES, the
flying pig is jovial, good-natured, and devoted to Peter. WISHING HORSE, on
the other hand, shows him as grouchy and sarcastic. This may stem partially
from the greater urgency of the mission. In PIRATES, no one even realizes
that Oz is in trouble until they reach Menankypoo, while the main plot of
WISHING HORSE starts with an obvious threat to the country. The Pigasus we
see in WISHING HORSE is also a more experienced one. He seems to have spent
most of his life up to the events in PIRATES in the Duke of Dork's castle
boat. This could also have contributed to his cynicism in WISHING HORSE. I
suppose it's also possible that he had just spent too much time around
Kabumpo.

The Pigasus of WISHING HORSE also has a power that is not mentioned in
PIRATES: the ability to read the minds of his riders. Why Thompson later
decided to give the pig this power, of which there is no hint at all in the
text of PIRATES, remains a mystery to me.

When Peter first meets Pigasus [ch. 13], the pig informs the boy that he
"was a present from the Red Jinn," to which Peter replies, "I've heard of
him." This is, perhaps, a suggestion that the Jinn might develop into more
than a one-time character, and, indeed, he reappears (in a major role) in
the next book, PURPLE PRINCE. Pigasus' origins, and why Jinnicky decided to
give the swine to Godorkas, are never explained, although I seem to recall a
later book calling Pigasus a "creation of the Red Jinn." I tend to think
that Pigasus was an ordinary pig who was granted special powers by
Jinnicky's magic.

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Jul 10, 2001  12:41 am
Subject:  PIRATES: Ruggedo's strategy

In chapter 19, Thompson describes how Ruggedo manages to come close to
conquering the Emerald City. She writes: "The Gnome King's army had taken
the capital by surprise and before word of his arrival had even reached the
castle, the Octagon Islanders and pirates had overpowered Ozma's gentle
citizens and locked them up in their houses and shops. Then, hidden from
view by some of the conjurer's magic, Ruggedo and the Clock Man had entered
the castle unseen and stolen the magic belt."

What comes to mind here (aside from mild disappointment at not being told
more about the magic that enabled Ruggedo and Clocker to sneak into the
castle) is that, for all of the villains' plotting and scheming, this plan
has a major flaw. If Ruggedo wants to sneak into the castle, why bring an
army at all? As it turns out, the Nome King receives no opposition until
Peter and Pigasus arrive, but if any Emerald City-ite had seen the pirates
coming and warned Ozma, the Nome would have been defeated without even being
able to enter the palace. Of course, the common citizens of the Emerald
City are notorious for not being able to put up a fight, but it would have
been simple enough for one of them to run to the palace for help. Besides,
why even bother conquering the ordinary houses and shops in the city? After
obtaining the Magic Belt, Ruggedo could do anything he wanted to the common
citizens. It is somewhat surprising that Ruggedo even makes it far as he
does.

How Samuel Salt manages to defeat Ruggedo is also a bit odd. He breaks open
the throne room doors, and grabs the Nome, forcing him to drop the
Standing-Stick. Wouldn't the Stick have affected Samuel as soon as he
entered the room, though? Or does it only affect people (or animals) in
front of the user? Note that the Stick apparently affects Tik-Tok, who is
not alive, yet, when Clocker uses it, it has no effect on Ruggedo.

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Jul 10, 2001  12:09 am
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] pirates in oz

Ruth:
>Perhaps a story would be possible about how Kadj and Cinderbutton stormed
>the Emerald City to recover their property, and took over reformation of
>Clocker as a project they knew more about than the Wizard could. (Did Kadj
>get any training as an apprentice to Smith & Tinker, I wonder?)

I think that's certainly a possibility, since Clocker is essentially the
second clockwork man in the Oz series. The Wizard even suggests [ch. 20]
that the reformed Clocker would be a twin for Tik-Tok. (Incidentally, if
Tik-Tok is the first robot in the Oz series, does that make Clocker, who is
apparently part flesh, the first Ozian cyborg?) What happened to the Clock
Man is certainly a subject that could be addressed in a story, since he
apparently comes to live in the Emerald City at the end of PIRATES, yet,
unlike Pigasus, who also moves into the capital of Oz, he never appears in
later books.

Nathan

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Tue Jul 10, 2001  9:38 am
Subject:  pigasus and goats in oz

Nathan DeHoff: Interesting set of comments on Pigasus. I think the point to
the "Wishing Horse" mind-reading may be that it saves Dorothy from having to
try to convince him of the truth of the reality she remembers. Doing that as
an argument in words might have taken up more space than RPT wanted to give
it. Maybe also she might have felt that the magic that lets Pigasus
transform words into verse must have involved some kind of direction
connection to thoughts, and Pigasus could just as well be conscious of the
connection. Has anyone written a "Pigasus in Oz" pastiche? (J.L.  Bell wrote
an ingenious Pigasus/Patchwork Girl story in which the rhyming magic works
the other way round applied to Scraps.) // "Pirates" leaves as a mystery the
origin of the bananny goat -- I wonder if she might have been developed by
Jinnicky, too. Her ecology must take some heavy-duty magic, as she is
nourished by the skins of her own bananas. Considering his heavy appetite,
and considering that Bilbil isn't around in goat-form anymore, I wonder if
Rinkitink might have acquired her later from the Dork. That would explain
how he can be glimpsed a-goatback in "Lucky Bucky."

Ruth Berman

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Tue Jul 10, 2001  1:55 pm
Subject:  PIRATES pirates

Ruth Berman wrote:
<<Probably another source is Stevenson's "Treasure Island," with Peter as a
Jim Hawkins type tempted by what he takes to be the temptation Samuel Salt
(and Ato -- who is even referred to at one point as "the seacook") or Long
John Silver the seacook offer to turn pirate.>>

TREASURE ISLAND is indeed clearly one forerunner, but I think Thompson was
bouncing off the whole tradition of swashbuckling piracy: PETER PAN, as you
note, plus N. C. Wyatt, Douglas Fairbanks Sr's THE BLACK PIRATES, and
childhood dress-up games. She doesn't adapt Stevenson's treasure map plot.
Her pirates take their wealth directly from other people (though nearly all
of them tiptoe back to pay for their loot). She seems to be exploring a
road that she decided to forgo in GNOME KING when she took Peter and
Ruggedo off Polacky the Plunderer's ship.

In GNOME KING, Peter was briefly enthralled with the idea of being a Nome
general, and in JACK PUMPKINHEAD he had to fight his admiration for macho
Mogodore. His desire in PIRATES to be a "rough, bluff, and relentless"
buccaneer completes the same pattern. Peter even says, "I wish I could grow
whiskers," so he would be more piratical [ch 11]. Although he still dreams
of "his future as an air pilot" [ch 17], for the nonce he's a boy fortune
hunter, thinking about how to take the pearls he removed from Shell City
back to Philadelphia [ch 9]. (At the end Ozma, without being asked, indeed
grants him those pearls; like the gold in GNOME KING, Thompson says, the
"real pearls" survive the journey [ch 20]. Presumably Peter and his
grandfather become even better off as a result.)

One element of piracy that's probably more visible in PIRATES than in
current pirate fantasies for kids is guns--and particularly kids with guns.
Thompson's text and Neill's art show Peter carrying pistols, a blunderbuss,
and an unidentified gun [ch 8, 9, 12]. He fires a cannon at Godorkas's
castle boat without orders; Thompson first says this shot was "across the
enemy's bow," but the "gaping hole" in the castle wall show Peter aimed
INTO the enemy's bow [ch 12, 13]. And he plans to fire those guns again [ch
14]. Ironically, Ruggedo is the book's clearest voice for considered use of
firearms: "There'll be no gun work unless I call for it" [ch 10].

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Wed Jul 11, 2001  10:24 am
Subject:  piratical strategy in oz

Nathan DeHoff: Interesting question on why bother with an army at all if
Ruggedo and Clocker can get into the castle by stealth. I think maybe the
answer is that Ruggedo is worried that the city streets are fairly crowded,
and maybe Emerald Citians who bump into somebody invisible who doesn't
provide convincing bona fides would grab and hold him. It does seem very odd
that no one runs away fast enough to get to the castle to ask for help,
though. // Why the Standing Stick doesn't stop Samuel Salt coming up from
behind -- I think we probably are meant to assume that it works forwards,
not both directions. (Otherwise the user might have a problem with being
immobilized.) I don't recall details of where Ruggedo is in relation to
Clocker in the scene -- will look at it again and see if any thoughts on why
Clocker's use of the Stick leaves Ruggedo free come to mind.

J.L. Bell: Comparison with current pirate fantasies for kids -- there aren't
really very many, are there? I can think of a couple of stories by Jane
Yolen about Pirate Queens (these undercut the usual pirate-fantasizing), and
there's a Disney movie, "Blackbeard's Ghost" (but I haven't seen it). I'm
not sure it's so much that the current pirate fantasies try to de-gun the
image as that pirates aren't being considered harmless fun anymore and
aren't getting through even on a swords-only basis.

Ruth Berman

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Jul 12, 2001  11:31 am
Subject:  piratical publishing strategy

Ruth Berman wrote:
<<Comparison with current pirate fantasies for kids -- there aren't really
very many, are there?>>

Not in novel form, but I've been surprised at how many picture books and
non-fiction books about pirates are being published. One advantage of
pirates for those formats is that they transcend national boundaries and
are in the public domain, making the books easy to publish worldwide. So
dress-up books usually include a pirate costume, for instance. Despite
their connections with violence, 17th- and 18th-century pirates are distant
enough not to be too scary.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Thu Jul 12, 2001  12:49 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] pigasus and goats in oz

Ruth:
>Nathan DeHoff: Interesting set of comments on Pigasus. I think the point to
>the "Wishing Horse" mind-reading may be that it saves Dorothy from having
>to
>try to convince him of the truth of the reality she remembers. Doing that
>as
>an argument in words might have taken up more space than RPT wanted to give
>it. Maybe also she might have felt that the magic that lets Pigasus
>transform words into verse must have involved some kind of direction
>connection to thoughts, and Pigasus could just as well be conscious of the
>connection.

That's quite possible. I read WISHING HORSE before PIRATES, though, and,
considering the nonchalant way Thompson introduces Pigasus' mind-reading
power in the former, I thought that it was something that readers who had
read the books in order would remember from the latter, and was rather
surprised that it did not turn up in PIRATES.

>"Pirates" leaves as a mystery the
>origin of the bananny goat -- I wonder if she might have been developed by
>Jinnicky, too.

That's possible. Breakfast does not mention her origins, but no one thinks
to ask her, either. It would make an interesting coincidence if one of the
Jinn's creations was traded for another, though.

>Her ecology must take some heavy-duty magic, as she is
>nourished by the skins of her own bananas.

Part of an attempt by Jinnicky to end world hunger, perhaps?

>Considering his heavy appetite,
>and considering that Bilbil isn't around in goat-form anymore, I wonder if
>Rinkitink might have acquired her later from the Dork. That would explain
>how he can be glimpsed a-goatback in "Lucky Bucky."

Possibly, although the goat in LUCKY BUCKY is described as "surly," which
Breakfast certainly doesn't seem to be. Then again, carrying around heavy
old Rinkitink might have MADE her surly.

Nathan

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Fri Jul 13, 2001  10:13 am
Subject:  pirates & clocker in oz

Nathan DeHoff: I looked at the scene again, and I think a forward vector in
the Standing Stick's magic (besides explaining why Samuel Salt can come up
from behind them unaffected) is the reason that Ruggedo isn't affected by
it -- he's described as standing beside Clocker, and the action doesn't
describe him as going in front of Clocker.

Greg Gick: I doubt that objections to the chase-a-barmaid "Pirates of the
Caribbean" scene were made because the pirates are being sexist. The
objections would be because portraying rape as jolly-and-cute is dorky.

A color plate note -- I looked at the color plates in "Pirates," and notice
that again, as in the few books preceding, some (5) of the color plates show
scenes similar to others in b&w, as if Neill was in some doubt as to whether
all the color plates would get used. One of Ruggedo & Clocker is similar to
a nearby b&w view of them; Samuel Salt charging into Ato's throneroom front
view is similar to the side view in b&w of the same scene; the Nobody with
Sam, Ato, and Peter is similar to the b&w scene of the same plus Roger
(although the Nobody looks very different, the color version being tall and
ornately hatted, and the b&w version short and differently costumed); the
view of Peter firing at the castle boat is slightly similar to the chapter
heading of the castle boat; and Ozma surrounded by rays of light is similar
to the b&w "how can we ever thank you" one.

Ruth Berman

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Sun Jul 15, 2001  8:52 pm
Subject:  PIRATES Pigasus

Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<When Peter first meets Pigasus [ch. 13], the pig informs the boy that he
"was a present from the Red Jinn," to which Peter replies, "I've heard of
him." This is, perhaps, a suggestion that the Jinn might develop into more
than a one-time character>>

It's also the first implication that the Red Jinn lives in the Nonestic
region. In JACK PUMPKINHEAD, his castle sat beside a sea of glass in a
fairyland of no stated location.

<<I seem to recall a later book calling Pigasus a "creation of the Red
Jinn." I tend to think that Pigasus was an ordinary pig who was granted
special powers by Jinnicky's magic.>>

Pigasus doesn't seem to remember his origin or a life before being winged,
which implies he was either formed as he is or transformed very young.
(Most enchanted creatures in Oz preserve some memory of their earlier
state.) I can imagine Jinnicky insisting that he'd do something only "when
pigs fly," and then changing his mind and creating Pigasus to justify
himself. He-he-he-hek-hek-hik-hik-hik!

<<The Pigasus of WISHING HORSE also has a power that is not mentioned in
PIRATES: the ability to read the minds of his riders. Why Thompson later
decided to give the pig this power, of which there is no hint at all in the
text of PIRATES, remains a mystery to me.>>

WISHING HORSE shows Dorothy unable to convince her friends through talking
that Skamperoo isn't the rightful ruler of Oz. If she could do so, in fact,
the plot would have to take a very different course. Thus, Thompson needed
a supernatural way for her to win one companion to her side. Giving Pigasus
the power to read his riders' minds was only a half step from the psychic
link implied by the versifying. His wings also gave Dorothy a way to travel
out of Oz.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Mon Jul 16, 2001  3:45 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] PIRATES Pigasus

J.  L. Bell:
>WISHING HORSE shows Dorothy unable to convince her friends through talking
>that Skamperoo isn't the rightful ruler of Oz. If she could do so, in fact,
>the plot would have to take a very different course. Thus, Thompson needed
>a supernatural way for her to win one companion to her side. Giving Pigasus
>the power to read his riders' minds was only a half step from the psychic
>link implied by the versifying. His wings also gave Dorothy a way to travel
>out of Oz.

Actually, Gloma transports Dorothy out of Oz, and she returns by way of
Bitty Bit's shooting tower. (Incidentally, I think it was Bitty who called
Pigasus a "creation" of Jinnicky's.) I agree that the psychic link was
necessary for Pigasus to be easily convinced of the truth of Dorothy's
beliefs, though.

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Jul 17, 2001  1:12 pm
Subject:  PIRATES: Ruggedo and Ozma's magical treasures

At the beginning of PIRATES, Ruggedo is presented as being in a poor
situation. While this is true, to an extent, he really isn't as badly off
as he has been before. He has been banished from the Emerald City, but not
from Oz itself (he left Oz on his own). Since he knows about the Iffin, who
moved into the capital after his banishment, he might well have been making
occasional unseen visits to the Emerald City, as well. As for his lack of
speech, it will wear off in three more years anyway. Ozma's punishment at
the end of GNOME KING seems a bit lax, especially compared to the end of
KABUMPO, where she banishes him to a desert island primarily to prevent
future trouble, rather than for anything he actually did. (He DID run off
with the palace, but that was unintentional.) The fact that she uses the
Water of Oblivion on Ruggedo is rather pointless. If it was able to wear
off when he had a good home in the Emerald City, would Ozma really expect it
to last when the former King was in worse circumstances? It seems as if
Ozma should have at least kept some watch over her enemy, which she
presumably does not, since Ruggedo is able to gain a kingdom, raise an army,
return to Oz, and conquer the common people of the Emerald City, all without
her knowledge.

As the story opens, Ruggedo is carrying a chest that was once full of
jewels. This is the first time we have heard of such a chest. At the end
of TIK-TOK, he puts jewels in his pockets, but most of them (the pockets)
rip. I believe he has a sack of jewels in MAGIC. The Nome still has plenty
of jewels left at the beginning of KABUMPO (he gives rubies to Wag), but
there is no mention as to how he is storing them. I suppose it is possible
that Ruggedo obtained the chest in between MAGIC and KABUMPO, and then found
it again after being punished at the end of GNOME KING (since it's unlikely
that Ozma sent it to Runaway Island with him). The former Nome King is also
selling sunglasses, but there is no mention as to where he got them. I
suppose he either made them himself or stole them, but this is not explained
in the text.

Skipping ahead to the end of the story, we find Ruggedo and Clocker finding
and taking the Magic Belt quite easily, but not the other magical treasures
of Oz. Doesn't it seem like the Belt, being the most powerful treasure in
Ozma's castle, would be the most difficult to find? Isn't it usually kept
in a safe, with the other magical treausres? I believe the first mention of
such a safe is at the end of KABUMPO, and it is mentioned again in GNOME
KING, yet Mogodore is able to steal it with no trouble and no magical
assistance in JACK PUMPKINHEAD. Either the safe was easy to break into, or
the Belt wasn't kept in the safe at this time. In YELLOW KNIGHT, the
Comfortable Camel mentions burglar alarms in the palace, possibly a partial
effort to stop future thefts of the Belt and other treasures. Ruggedo and
Clocker might have used the Conjurer's magic to bypass these alarms (and
maybe even to break into a safe) in PIRATES, but that still leaves the
question as to why the Belt is kept in a separate, and presumably easier to
find, place from the other magical items. In future Thompson books, all of
the treasures, including the Belt, are kept in a safe. In WISHING HORSE,
Dorothy finds that Skamperoo had magically opened the safe, and sent all of
the treasures to the bottom of Lightning Lake. HANDY MANDY has Wutz
breaking into the safe. Note that, in this book, it is Ruggedo who tells
him where the Belt is kept, so, if he did not find the Belt there in
PIRATES, he must have been able to find out this location at some other
time. (Maybe he was partially conscious while in the form of a jug.) In
OZOPLANING, Strut fails to open the safe, which Nick Chopper informs him
that only Ozma and the Wizard can open (even though the Magic Belt is
technically Dorothy's; I suppose she considers keeping it safe more
important than having easy access to it). Other authors are not always
consistent with Thompson's safe idea, however. I have not read MAGICAL
MIMICS in a while, but I seem to recall the Belt simply lying around in
Ozma's laboratory when Umb and Ra steal it.

Nathan

From:  "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at a...>
Date:  Wed Jul 18, 2001  1:37 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] pirates & clocker in oz

Bother!  Nonestica is working differently from all the other Yahoo
groups I'm on, where replies go to the list instead of the sender.

Ruth Berman wrote:
>
> Interesting comment. Could be what was intended, although Oz magic tools are
> often "mechanical" in working to built-in rules rather than user-guidance. I
> notice that you posted it to me rather to Nonestica. Did you send a copy to
> Nonestica that will be showing up in a Nonestica digest shortly? I'm sure
> the group as a whole would like to read it.
>
> Ruth
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenned at b...>
> To: "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
> Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 7:45 AM
> Subject: Re: [Nonestica] pirates & clocker in oz
>
> > Another possibility is that, as they say in the Lord D'arcy stories,
> > "Magic is a matter of symbolism and intent." If the Standing Stick only
> > freezes the people you want to freeze, and you don't know someone's
> > there....
> >
> > --
> > John W. Kennedy
> > (Working from my laptop)
> >

--
John W. Kennedy
(Working from my laptop)

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Jul 18, 2001  10:57 pm
Subject:  PIRATES animals

Ruth Berman wrote:
<<"Pirates" leaves as a mystery the origin of the bananny goat. . . . Her
ecology must take some heavy-duty magic, as she is nourished by the skins
of her own bananas.>>

Breakfast's diet indeed presents a number of oddities. There's the
nutritional question of how her body can produce so many bananas while
taking in only part of those same fruits--their skins. She nearly swamps
the CRESCENT MOON with her banana production, indicating that she creates
far more mass than she actually contains--all the while giving goat's milk
as well [ch 12]. (This episode echoes Ruggedo's waking up covered with
Clocker's little yellow notes [ch 4]. Thompson was playing with the
consequences of having a character who magically produces objects on an
unstoppable schedule.)

Perhaps the most disturbing oddity about Breakfast is that she actually
feeds off her own skin. But that self-cannibalism is just one example of
eating animals in this book. We've talked before about the philosophical or
ethical implications of animals in Oz being sentient: Do people eat their
meat? Do animals eat other animals? People came to different conclusions
about those issues, but on a pirate ship it's clear that anything goes.

Duck in all its forms seems especially popular on the CRESCENT MOON. Ato
muses, "I'd rather have a roast duck, or an omelet" [ch 8]. Salt soon
shoots two drakes, as Neill illustrates [ch 9]. The captain later looks for
"duck eggs" [ch 11], and refers to his old pirate deputies as "trussed up
like fowls on market day" [ch 16]. (In addition, Peter is unconscionably
careless with the egg on Cascadia Island, which breaks with the very eggy
smell of "brimstone" or sulfur [ch 15].)

Even more remarkable, the men make all those comments in front of Roger,
who's rather ducky himself. Perhaps Roger sees himself as unlike those
other types of birds, the way we humans see ourselves as unlike other
mammals. Still, it seems a bit heartless to make a bird read a recipe that
begins, "First you take two eggs..." [ch 8].

But that's nothing to how Ato greets Pigasus: "He'll make splendid
sandwiches." Peter insists, "Oh, no, he's not that kind of pig." So what
sets Pigasus apart? The power of speech isn't what saves him from the
cleaver. Rather, it's his power to make others speak in verse [ch 13].

On this voyage, the CRESCENT MOON crew doesn't seem to meet any animals who
can't talk, or people who are surprised to hear Roger, Breakfast, and
Pigasus speak (as people were surprised by Bilbil in RINKITINK). That
implies that all the animals they do encounter in these regions--even those
they kill and steal eggs from--are sentient, as in Oz. Peter says Oz "is
the only country I know where birds can talk" [ch 7], but we know Billina
started talking on the Nonestica (and Peter's forgotten his conversation
with the Balloon Bird in GNOME KING).

Peter's actually responsible for PIRATES' rawest act of cruelty toward
animals who are probably alive and possibly sentient: in Shell City he
swallows "a few raw oysters" [ch 9].

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Thu Jul 19, 2001  10:23 am
Subject:  x in oz

J.L.  Bell: Interesting comments on diets and meat in diets in "Pirates."
Banana's habit of eating her own banana skins doesn't seem quite close
enough to eating her own skin to be "disturbing" to most readers, but it
does seem to call for a lot of extra magic. You're probably right in seeing
her over-production as a variation on stories of the "why the sea is salt"
type.

Ruth Berman

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Jul 19, 2001  11:06 pm
Subject:  PIRATES sex roles

Ruth Berman wrote:
<<all those magical implements that Ozma disposes of were actually stolen
from Kadj the Conjuror in the first place, and he's supposed to be away
only on a visit to his daughter, Cinderbutton the Witch. What happened when
he got home and found out he wuz robbed?>>

A good question indeed, especially since Kadj was only to be away for
another month [ch 3]. Cinderbutton would also be involved since she
invented the standing stick [ch 10]. Ogowon's imprisonment in the
mountainous island was also the work of a witch [ch 15]. (It's interesting
that the ogre speaks of this matter-of-factly, without blame or vengeance
in his voice.) Together with Ozma, these witches represent a female magic
that underlies much of the action in PIRATES but remains largely off stage.  

The CRESCENT MOON crew is all male. When a female--Breakfast--comes on
board the ship, she nearly sinks it. I sense that Thompson quickly had the
crew trade away the goat because she sensed that Breakfast's personality
was a creative dead end, but in any event the replacement is Pigasus,
another male. (I've mentioned that one major difference between Peter and
Speedy is that Thompson leaves the former in mostly all-male worlds, while
the latter keeps being forced to confront his expectations and fondness for
females; both boys address female friends as "Girl, girl," however, which
implies that was a catch phrase of the day [ch 18].)

On the other side of the conflict, Salt's mutinous pirates are all males as
well. The populations of Menankypoo and Octagon Island contain women and
children, but females aren't involved in any of the political maneuverings.
The only time we see the Menankypoo women are when the pirates are herding
them into the sea [ch 4]. As for the Octagonese, Thompson says, "Some of
the women remarked among themselves on the puny size and extreme ugliness
of their new ruler...But the men paid no attention to them" [ch 10].  And
Ruggedo locks up all the women and children before invading Oz [ch 16].

<<Did he really mean to make Clocker, meant to be the Wise Man of
Menankypoo, as machiavellian a clockwork as he turned out?>>

I can't find where Clocker's origin is specified. He seems to have been
exiled to Kadj's cave by the Menankypoos [ch 3], and to have learned about
the conjurer's magic while there [ch 10]. Did I miss something?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Jul 19, 2001  11:06 pm
Subject:  Re: PIRATES: Ruggedo's strategy

I agree with Nathan DeHoff that Thompson's description of the capture of
the Emerald City in chapter 19 has several gaping holds in its logic. I
sense that she was in a rush to finish--either to bring her characters to
their climactic confrontation or to complete her manuscript for Reilly & Lee.

Thompson doesn't show us how Ruggedo's army got to the Emerald City (well,
she says Clocker supplied a "way-word" for crossing the Desert, but implies
the army marched the rest of the way, which would have been quite a feat of
the feet). She's even more vague about how Clocker made himself and the
Nome King invisible. And as for what happened to that magic by the time
Peter arrived, she doesn't even acknowledge the question.

Furthermore, the arrival of scores of pirates and invaders has left no mark
on the Emerald City. The invaders have simply locked all the citizens in
their homes, and then Ruggedo transformed all but two of his followers. Why
did he leave ANY in human form, except that Thompson wanted to leave Peter
some sign that the pirate army had conquered? I think it would have been
much more dramatic if Peter had found the capital in chaos with pirates and
invaders shoving people around and prying jewels off the walls. But that
would have required more descriptive prose, and the activity outside the
palace would have made it harder to maintain that Ozma's state meeting had
prevented her from noticing that her city was being overrun.

Then comes the question of how Ruggedo and Clocker found the Magic Belt
quickly without finding "the magic dinner bell [!], the magic picture and
the Wizard's black bag" that they want as well [ch 17]. And since we know
from OZMA that Ruggedo can use the Magic Belt to prevent folks from moving
(as long as they're not made of wood), why does he continue to rely on the
standing stick instead?

All in all, Thompson might as well have snapped her fingers and wished, "I
want to put Ozma and her entire court at Ruggedo's mercy so that Samuel
Salt can arrive at the last minute and save the day."

The chapter structure surrounding this confrontation is complex, but
Thompson's fast pacing carries it off rather well. First we find the end of
Salt's and Ato's quests in Menankypoo, as they catch up to their disloyal
followers, but then they discover what we readers have known all along:
that while the crew of the CRESCENT MOON has been playing pirates, Oz is in
real danger. Peter impetuously flies off, though Binx and Peggo tell us he
can't succeed. To raise the tension, Thompson doesn't follow the boy but
for the first time puts us in Samuel Salt's point of view as he paces his
ship [ch 16].

The next chapter, in which Peter, Ozma, and their friends confront Ruggedo,
has a rather nice build-up as well. At first we think Peter will save the
day again, but then he becomes a captive as well. I like Ruggedo's surprise
and pleasure at that event (he doesn't even pause to wonder why his old
enemy has suddenly shown up on a flying pig). I also like how Rug calls the
boy "Brother Goose" for his rhymes. The Nome King's transformations of old
favorites at the end nicely ups the stakes. And then he turns to Peter...

The one hiccough in chapter 17 comes when Pigasus swallowing Clocker's
cuckoo brain (another quasi-cannibalistic act). I'd remembered that as
significant to the outcome, but it's only a distraction because Ruggedo
quickly grabs the standing stick. That moment gives the chapter some of the
same stop-start rhythm that afflicts other Thompson throne room
confrontations, such as ROYAL BOOK.

Finally, Samuel Salt bursts in to save the day, as Thompson probably
planned. Like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, this book shows the way to overcome
a villain with advanced technology is rushing up and slugging him. I too
wondered about why the standing stick didn't affect Salt. It wouldn't have
been much trouble for Thompson to show exactly how that tool does or
doesn't work. Instead, she tries to draw another lesson: "The only thing
that had saved the Oz folk had been Ruggedo's boastfulness" (supervillain
mistake #1).

Before we get to that wrap-up, however, Thompson takes us back to the
CRESCENT MOON at the end of chapter 16, but this time in Roger's point of
view. Once again we see Capt Salt seizing Ruggedo, but this time from the
rear of the throne room instead of the front. Then we move on to the
requisite party in Ozma's palace, but the next chapter takes us even
FARTHER back to learn about the invasion. That's when I think Thompson
began to lose interest in the details, or to fear her readers would.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Fri Jul 20, 2001  10:29 am
Subject:  Erte' and Clocker in oz

J.L.  Bell: I don't remember offhand what the comment is that made me think
Clocker was constructed by Kadj. You might have missed something, or I might
have assumed over-much. I'll see if I can find the relevant passage to look
at again.

Ruth Berman

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Fri Jul 20, 2001  10:02 pm
Subject:  PIRATES real v. magical, mortal v. immortal

At the end of PIRATES, Ozma sends Peter home with the pearls he collected
in Shell City [ch 20]. As in GNOME KING, Thompson says that the only reason
the gems survive the journey to Pennsylvania is that they're "real." (That
a magical coin and sack made the trip to America and back in JACK
PUMPKINHEAD doesn't seem to worry her.)

Earlier, when the CRESCENT MOON sails over the Emerald City, Ato worries
that "we'll shoot straight out of this Imagi-Nation and land in some real
country where no one will believe in us at all" [ch 18]. The sea cook's
consternation implies that if no one believes in the crew of the CRESCENT
MOON, they might cease to live, like Tinkerbell.

Linked to the question of real v. magic is the issue of immortality.
Thompson tells us, "In fairy countries sovereigns are not destroyed or
killed by such simple accidents" as falling into the ocean [ch 2]. The
pirates drive the Menankypoos into the sea, but "it is impossible to hurt
or destroy beings as magically constructed" as they are [ch 4]. The charm
of a magical country extends even to non-royal, ordinary humans like Samuel
Salt and the deposed Ato: "Dwelling as they did in a magic country they
would live on for centuries" [ch 15]. As I noted before, however, the same
indestructibility doesn't seem to apply to the animals they come across.

In chapter 15 Thompson explores the difference in how time passes for
immortals and for Peter (though, as we've noted, the boy from Philadelphia
doesn't seem to age much as time passes between his adventures). Peter is
much more impatient than Salt, who's already been becalmed for 53 weeks,
but will live for centuries. Yet Peter also has to ask Ogowon, who's been
locked up for 500 years, to wait a little longer before breaking out of his
mountainous prison; fortunately, the immortal ogre doesn't see how a few
more minutes will matter.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Fri Jul 20, 2001  10:02 pm
Subject:  PIRATES Peter

One of the oddities about PIRATES is that Thompson takes an unusually
(perhaps unprecedented) long time before introducing us to a young hero or
heroine. Indeed, instead of tracing Peter's journey from its start, she
just brings him into Ato's adventure in chapter 6. She says the boy has
clearly had "some exciting and exhausting experiences," but scurries
through the description in a couple of pages.

Nevertheless, we learn some important new information about Peter in this
book. Most important, his last name finally appears, generic though it is:
Brown [ch 6]. He and his grandfather seem to move in wealthy circles: a
friend of the family owns a yacht big enough to cruise from Philadelphia to
the latitude of Cape Hatteras [ch 6--Peter also mentions yachts in ch 15].
Peter also has an uncle with a farm, where he learned to milk goats [ch
12].

We learn Peter goes to Philadelphia's Blaine School [ch 7]. There's still
an elementary school of that name in north Philadelphia--on 30th and Berks
or Norris Streets, depending on which website I look at. This
extraordinarily long URL indicates that the current building was in use in
1931, when PIRATES was published:

And here's a map that locates the school in north Philadelphia:

Anyone want to take a photo for the BUGLE?

Some elements of Peter's personality remain from his previous appearances.
He still wants to be an air pilot when he grows up [ch 17]. He's still wild
about baseball, feeling a responsibility to return to the team he captains
[ch 15]. But that feeling isn't entirely magnanimous; we also see Peter
become "extremely annoyed and uneasy" at the thought of a boy named Billy
Hastings taking his place as captain. (I like how Samuel Salt assumes that
since Peter is captain, a baseball team "must be a small ship" [ch 7].)

David Hulan has written (though not recently) about how it's difficult to
reconcile Peter's statement that "I am eleven years old" [ch 7] with his
earliest appearance in GNOME KING, when he was already in the Fifth B.
Indeed, even more time seems to have passed in Oz between the end of the
events in GNOME KING and the start of PIRATES than passed between the
publication of those books, because Ruggedo spent five years wandering Oz
and an additional period outside it [ch 1].

David's suggestion that Peter is actually about 14 in this book makes sense
in a historical perspective. It's also clear, however, that Thompson hadn't
decided he was too old to keep coming to Oz, as James Barrie and C. S.
Lewis did with their young protagonists. In chapter 20, Ozma invites Peter
to come back with his father and become baseball captain in the Emerald
City (leaving the Philly team to Billy Hastings, I suppose); Peter replies,
"Maybe next time I will stay!"

Peter's return home is similar to Speedy's in YELLOW KNIGHT. Ozma uses her
Magic Belt, but it transports the boy gradually instead of instantly: Peter
"felt himself beginning to vanish." Both boys also seem to wake up in
America instead of being in the same state of consciousness as when they
left Oz. In Peter's case, he's even in "his own four-post bed," and
Thompson's ponders what he'll think when he "woke up"!

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Fri Jul 20, 2001  10:02 pm
Subject:  PIRATES Ruggedo

Baum started EMERALD CITY with a chapter about Ruggedo, and he's one of the
few villains in the Oz books who sustains plot lines of his own instead of
just a couple of tension-building chapters. Thompson goes even further in
PIRATES, devoting the first four chapters to the deposed Nome King, without
a child protagonist or even a sympathetic character in sight. I think that
shows the essentially bratty, childlike personality of her Ruggedo, as well
as his enduring fascination for Oz fans.

Nathan DeHoff noted a number of discrepancies between the picture of
Ruggedo at the start of PIRATES and how earlier books left him. I see a
possible American influence on how he appears at the start of this book.
He's unable to speak, so he carries a writing tablet and wears a begging
sign: "Kindly help the dumb." He also has dark spectacles, associated with
the blind, which he trades for a meal or a bed. He's thus somewhat
reminiscent of the beggars, handicapped or not, that were proliferating in
American cities in 1930-31 as Thompson wrote this book.

We learn a few personal facts about Ruggedo, if we can trust them. He has a
"favorite repast" (breakfast) and a "favorite foot" (unspecified). He's
been in existence for 10,000 years--though Thompson drops that figure while
saying the Menankypoos are the oddest people he's ever encountered, a weak
claim for someone who's met the Phanfasms [ch 2].

Physically, Ruggedo's "a four foot sovereign" [ch 10], though also "no
larger than a small child" [ch 2] and light enough to be carried across the
Deadly Desert by an eagle [ch 1]. Once known for his strength, Ruggedo has
become weak (perhaps because he's no longer living underground): "all his
might was not very mighty" [ch 2]. Finally, "gnomes, like cats and owls,
can see in the dark" [ch 3].

Though Ruggedo is so infamous that a passing crow recognizes him [ch 1],
Thompson manages to leave out significants parts of his history: how Ozma
interfered in his affairs before he ever interfered in hers, and how
Tititi-Hoochoo deposed him. She tries to fit the events of his life into
the reassuring little maxim, "good magic is always better than bad." Which,
of course, wipes out the tension in the book.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Ruth Berman" <berma005 at m...>
Date:  Mon Jul 23, 2001  10:12 am
Subject:  chests & clockerers & zoops in oz

Nathan DeHoff: I looked again at the lost jewels passage, and I realize it's
a misreading to think there was a (wooden) chest that Ruggedo formerly had
filled with jewels and gold chains. When Ruggedo was king of the nomes, his
(bodily) chest was decorated with jewels and gold chains (the jewels maybe
pendant from the chains or mounted separately as brooches).

J.L. Bell: I looked again at the Clocker passages, and I see that I was
assuming more than the text warrants in thinking that Kadj constructed
him -- although the assumption may actually be what RPT had in mind. That's
to say -- the fact that the Menankypoos banished Clocker to Kadj's cage
suggests that Kadj built him, because why else would he accept the
responsibility? Easy enough to think of other possibilities -- as an act of
friendship, or because they paid him in food or wizardly supplies or
something. But the possibility that Kadj accepted the responsibility because
he'd built Clocker and felt responsible seems a likely one.

Ruth Berman

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Jul 24, 2001  3:19 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] Re: PIRATES: Ruggedo's strategy

J.  L. Bell:
>And since we know
>from OZMA that Ruggedo can use the Magic Belt to prevent folks from moving
>(as long as they're not made of wood), why does he continue to rely on the
>standing stick instead?

Maybe he forgot how to do that after drinking the Water of Oblivion so many
times, or the Standing Stick had a much faster and more reliable result.

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Jul 24, 2001  3:26 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] PIRATES sex roles

J.  L. Bell:
>The CRESCENT MOON crew is all male. When a female--Breakfast--comes on
>board the ship, she nearly sinks it. I sense that Thompson quickly had the
>crew trade away the goat because she sensed that Breakfast's personality
>was a creative dead end, but in any event the replacement is Pigasus,
>another male. (I've mentioned that one major difference between Peter and
>Speedy is that Thompson leaves the former in mostly all-male worlds, while
>the latter keeps being forced to confront his expectations and fondness for
>females; both boys address female friends as "Girl, girl," however, which
>implies that was a catch phrase of the day [ch 18].)

Later, in CAPTAIN SALT, Samuel specifically mentions that he does not want
any women on board his ship. In that same book, however, he takes Nikobo,
probably the most maternal character in Thompson's Oz books, as a passenger,
as well as Sally, a female salamander. It's interesting to note that, while
Baum had only one book with an all-male cast, in which one of the males
turned out to be a female in disguise (Peter Glassman's essay in the Books
of Wonder edition of TIN WOODMAN identifies this as another book with an
all-male cast, which is odd, as Polychrome is a major character in the
story), Thompson had several. In addition to PIRATES and JACK PUMPKINHEAD
(Peter's other adventure in an all-male world), COWARDLY LION, PURPLE
PRINCE, and OJO (except for the brief adventures of Dorothy and Scraps) had
only males as main characters.

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Jul 24, 2001  3:33 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] PIRATES real v. magical, mortal v.  immortal

J.  L. Bell:
>Linked to the question of real v. magic is the issue of immortality.
>Thompson tells us, "In fairy countries sovereigns are not destroyed or
>killed by such simple accidents" as falling into the ocean [ch 2].  The
>pirates drive the Menankypoos into the sea, but "it is impossible to hurt
>or destroy beings as magically constructed" as they are [ch 4].  The charm
>of a magical country extends even to non-royal, ordinary humans like Samuel
>Salt and the deposed Ato: "Dwelling as they did in a magic country they
>would live on for centuries" [ch 15].

Considering that Baum seemed to consider immortality a unique trait for
Ozites, Momen, and beings that counted as fairies or spirits (Nomes,
Phanfasms, Whimsies, etc.), it is rather odd that Thompson seemed to think
that ALL Nonesticans are immortal. Evoldo, Gos, and Cor all presumably died
in the ocean, yet PIRATES suggests that people in fairy countries (which Ev
certainly is, as Glinda attests to in OZMA) cannot die in this manner.
Perhaps the enchantment of Oz was expanded to apply to other countries? If
so, does this make Oz less unique?

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Jul 24, 2001  3:44 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] PIRATES Peter

J.  L. Bell:
>One of the oddities about PIRATES is that Thompson takes an unusually
>(perhaps unprecedented) long time before introducing us to a young hero or
>heroine.

In KABUMPO, Prince Pompadore is eighteen years old, and Peg Amy old enough
to marry him. Hence, this seems to be a book without a child protagonist at
all. SILVER PRINCESS is much the same, although Randy was certainly a child
when we were introduced to him in PURPLE PRINCE. While eighteen would
probably be considered young by most of the regular participants on this
list, might it not have been rather old to many of Thompson's young
readers?

>David's suggestion that Peter is actually about 14 in this book makes sense
>in a historical perspective. It's also clear, however, that Thompson hadn't
>decided he was too old to keep coming to Oz, as James Barrie and C. S.
>Lewis did with their young protagonists. In chapter 20, Ozma invites Peter
>to come back with his father and become baseball captain in the Emerald
>City (leaving the Philly team to Billy Hastings, I suppose); Peter replies,
>"Maybe next time I will stay!"

Since there are several Outside World adults who come to Oz and are allowed
to stay there (the Shaggy Man, the Wizard, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and Notta
Bit More), it might be a bit odd if Peter COULD stop coming to Oz after
growing older. On the other hand, if he had continued to arrive in the
every-other-book pattern that Thompson had been using, he might soon have
become too old to count as the main child protagonist (unless he came to
live in Oz, and stopped aging).

>Peter's return home is similar to Speedy's in YELLOW KNIGHT. Ozma uses her
>Magic Belt, but it transports the boy gradually instead of instantly: Peter
>"felt himself beginning to vanish." Both boys also seem to wake up in
>America instead of being in the same state of consciousness as when they
>left Oz. In Peter's case, he's even in "his own four-post bed," and
>Thompson's ponders what he'll think when he "woke up"!

Perhaps Ozma, Glinda, or the Wizard added this feature to the Belt, in order
to ease the transition from Oz to the Outside World.

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Tue Jul 24, 2001  3:47 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] PIRATES Ruggedo

J.  L. Bell:
>We learn a few personal facts about Ruggedo, if we can trust them. He has a
>"favorite repast" (breakfast) and a "favorite foot" (unspecified). He's
>been in existence for 10,000 years--though Thompson drops that figure while
>saying the Menankypoos are the oddest people he's ever encountered, a weak
>claim for someone who's met the Phanfasms [ch 2].

My Del Rey edition refers to "the whole thousand years of his existence."
Was this a misprint?

>Once known for his strength, Ruggedo has
>become weak (perhaps because he's no longer living underground): "all his
>might was not very mighty" [ch 2].

When was it stated that Ruggedo was once known for his strength?

Nathan

From:  Tyler Jones <tyler.jones at b...>
Date:  Wed Jul 25, 2001  1:53 pm
Subject:  PIRATES real v. magical, mortal v. immortal

On EVERYBODY being immortal, Nathan wrote
> does this make Oz less unique?

I've often thought of Thompson's books as exporting the uniqueness of Oz to other countries.

People in Menankypoo are immortal as are the Ozamalanders, and probably others.

I think somewhere in Pirates (possibly when the ship was becalmed
at the base of that mountain), Thompson said that Ato and Samuel
were liable to "Go on for centuries", implying that if they were
not immortal, they were at least long-lived.

I always felt that (at least the way Baum had it) was that even in the
magical world, Oz was special, but it's possible that the enchantment
has begun to affect other areas of Nonestica.

Tyler Jones

From:  David Hulan <davidhulan at n...>
Date:  Thu Jul 26, 2001  11:10 am
Subject:  Re: PIRATES sex roles

Nathan:
>It's interesting to note that, while
>Baum had only one book with an all-male cast, in which one of the males
>turned out to be a female in disguise (Peter Glassman's essay in the
Books
>of Wonder edition of TIN WOODMAN identifies this as another book with
an
>all-male cast, which is odd, as Polychrome is a major character in the
>story), Thompson had several.

I assume you're talking about LAND, but it has quite a few important
female characters - it's true that the group of wanderers is all
male, but Mombi, Jellia, Jinjur, and Glinda all play prominent roles;
the plot couldn't exist without them.

From:  David Hulan <davidhulan at n...>
Date:  Thu Jul 26, 2001  11:15 am
Subject:  Re: Ruggedo's strength

>
>Once known for his strength, Ruggedo has
>>become weak (perhaps because he's no longer living underground):
"all his
>>might was not very mighty" [ch 2].
>
>When was it stated that Ruggedo was once known for his strength?

At the end of _Magic_ Ruggedo says "I'm stronger than all of you
people put together!" Since his audience included the Cowardly Lion
and the Hungry Tiger (not strictly "people," perhaps, but he was
announcing that he could conquer Oz starting with his audience) he
must have thought he was very strong indeed. And who'd know better?

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Jul 26, 2001  12:01 pm
Subject:  PIRATES real v. magical, mortal v. immortal

Nathan DeHoff wrote:
<<Perhaps the enchantment of Oz was expanded to apply to other countries?
If so, does this make Oz less unique?>>

Less unusual, certainly ("unique" being an absolute). When Baum depicted
the Nonestic world, he said in Mo and Oz humans never died and animals
spoke, and he portrayed most other countries differently. There were, of
course, exceptions: Foxville and Dunkiton, wherever Billina started
speaking, etc. But Lurline seemed to have singled out Ozians among their
neighbors for her spell of immortality.

Thompson depicted nearly the entire region as having those qualities. One
wonders, in that case, what Lurline's enchantment was meant to accomplish.

It's possible that Lurline or other powerful magic-workers enchanted the
countries around Oz to the same level as the series went on. There's no
reason Fairy queens would have to tell us what they choose to do, and no
reason such change had anything to do with Oz or characters we've met.

Or perhaps the change wasn't anyone's deliberate choice. As immortals were
driven from the Great Outside World by encroaching "civilization" in the
20th century, the Nonestic region may have become an even greater center of
magic.

Against those ideas is the lack of any remarks from people in Oz or outside
about noticing the change. Both Salt and Ato seem to have already
experienced and adjusted to having magically long lives, for instance.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Thu Jul 26, 2001  2:25 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] PIRATES sex roles

Eric:
>In a message dated 7/25/01 10:43:55 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
>DinnerBell at t...  writes:
>
>
> > . It's interesting to note that, while
> > Baum had only one book with an all-male cast, in which one of the males
> >
>
>I didn't know that Bobo was female.

Oh, I had forgotten all about RINKITINK! I was thinking, of course, of
LAND, but it seems that there were actually TWO Baum books with all-male
casts. There were still a lot more Thompson books than that with all-male
casts, though, so my original point still stands.

Nathan

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Thu Jul 26, 2001  2:33 pm
Subject:  PIRATES clockwork men

Clocker is the first of two villains associated with clocks that Thompson
creates in the early 1930s--Mooj of OJO being the other. Was she feeling
deadline pressure? Interestingly, though Thompson described Clocker as
"dressed in the stately [18th-century] manner of the Menankypoos, but his
head was of wood" [ch 3], Neill made his face modern and his costume a
standard 1931 businessman's double-breasted suit. Far from an old-fashioned
walking cuckoo clock, Clocker came to look like the very modern tyranny of
time.

In the plot he functions like Ippty, Akbad, or Tuzzle and Chinda together:
an advisor as nasty or even nastier than the monarch he advises, a sounding
board for that ruler's childish complaints, and an engine for his schemes.

Ruth Berman wrote:
<<I was assuming more than the text warrants in thinking that Kadj
constructed him -- although the assumption may actually be what RPT had in
mind. That's to say -- the fact that the Menankypoos banished Clocker to
Kadj's ca[v]e suggests that Kadj built him, because why else would he
accept the responsibility? Easy enough to think of other possibilities --
as an act of friendship, or because they paid him in food or wizardly
supplies or something.>>

The Menankypoos seem to have banished Clocker at the same time, or at least
for the same offense, as they pushed their former king into the ocean. Why
didn't they push Clocker into the water as well? Perhaps because he'd be
ambitious enough to walk back out. Kadj's cave might be the only nearby
place that seemed capable of keeping him from bothering Menankypoo again.
And since we have no idea of Kadj's personality, we have no way of knowing
whether he'd lock up Clocker out of responsibility, neighborliness, or
self-interest.

It's noteworthy that, despite being locked up behind a panel in the wall,
Clocker seems familiar with Kadj's magic [ch 10]. Not that he'd mentioned
that in his first conversation with Ruggedo. Clocker couldn't have sneaked
back during the night while the Nome King was sleeping since he deposited
his little yellow slips all over the pirate king [ch 4].

Oddly enough, for a wise man in a kingdom bordering the Nonestic, Clocker
doesn't seem to know about Oz: he refers to "this land of Oz about which
you have told me" [ch 4].

Both Thompson and Neill link Clocker to Tik-Tok at the end of PIRATES. I
think that's missing a big part of Tik-Tok's character, but then Thompson
has been missing that for a couple of books now. In OZMA and TIK-TOK, Baum
clearly portrays Tik-Tok as a machine programmed to think and act for his
master, mistress, or other commander. When he comes up with ideas, they're
based on the goals that Dorothy, Ozma, or his temporary owner has set.

In contrast, Thompson depicts Tik-Tok as having independent thoughts beyond
his programming and orders. In YELLOW KNIGHT, chapter 1, he is "practising
thrusts and parries with an old cane." Since when do machines have to
practice? (Incidentally, YELLOW KNIGHT features a very nice drawing of
Tik-Tok playing cards with Jack Pumpkinhead in its frontmatter.)

In chapter 19 of PIRATES, Tik-Tok again goes beyond his instructions to
suggest "Let us build a mon-u-ment of these cob-ble-stones to warn all
peo-ple not to re-bel against [sic] their ru-lers." That somewhat makes
sense as a statement of an ultra-loyal servant (and it might reflect
Thompson's conservative instincts), but Tik-Tok's mistress Ozma has not
stated warning people against rebellions as her goal. As with Clocker,
Tik-Tok comes across as a heartless mechanical man rather than an
ultra-reliable servant, which I think is the essence of his character.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Fri Jul 27, 2001  7:32 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] PIRATES real v. magical, mortal v. immortal

J.  L. Bell:
>Or perhaps the change wasn't anyone's deliberate choice. As immortals were
>driven from the Great Outside World by encroaching "civilization" in the
>20th century, the Nonestic region may have become an even greater center of
>magic.

That's an interesting idea, and it seems to tie in pretty well with Baum's
ideas of civilization vs. magic.

>Against those ideas is the lack of any remarks from people in Oz or outside
>about noticing the change. Both Salt and Ato seem to have already
>experienced and adjusted to having magically long lives, for instance.

Isn't it mentioned somewhere that Ato is 1000 years old? Or am I thinking
of Ruggedo? (If he IS that old, it's rather surprising that his subjects
put up with him for as long as they had.)

Nathan

From:  "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" <DinnerBell at t...>
Date:  Sat Jul 28, 2001  12:21 pm
Subject:  Re: [Nonestica] PIRATES clockwork men

J.  L. Bell:
>Clocker is the first of two villains associated with clocks that Thompson
>creates in the early 1930s--Mooj of OJO being the other. Was she feeling
>deadline pressure? Interestingly, though Thompson described Clocker as
>"dressed in the stately [18th-century] manner of the Menankypoos, but his
>head was of wood" [ch 3], Neill made his face modern and his costume a
>standard 1931 businessman's double-breasted suit. Far from an old-fashioned
>walking cuckoo clock, Clocker came to look like the very modern tyranny of
>time.

Interesting that you mention Mooj in the same paragraph, since he was
another character with whom Neill took many liberties (without directly
contradicting the text, though). I believe Mooj is just described as skinny
and evil-looking in the text, but Neill draws him with gear eyes and an
alarm bell on his head.

>Oddly enough, for a wise man in a kingdom bordering the Nonestic, Clocker
>doesn't seem to know about Oz: he refers to "this land of Oz about which
>you have told me" [ch 4].

Perhaps he is feigning ignorance to get Ruggedo to trust him?

>In chapter 19 of PIRATES, Tik-Tok again goes beyond his instructions to
>suggest "Let us build a mon-u-ment of these cob-ble-stones to warn all
>peo-ple not to re-bel against [sic] their ru-lers." That somewhat makes
>sense as a statement of an ultra-loyal servant (and it might reflect
>Thompson's conservative instincts), but Tik-Tok's mistress Ozma has not
>stated warning people against rebellions as her goal. As with Clocker,
>Tik-Tok comes across as a heartless mechanical man rather than an
>ultra-reliable servant, which I think is the essence of his character.

That is a rather odd misinterpretation of Tik-Tok. When the Wizard replaces
Clocker's bad works with good, perhaps he should do the same for Tik-Tok.
Actually, I seem to recall the Wizard giving Tik-Tok a tune-up of sorts in
Eric Gjovaag and Karyl Carlson's QUEEN ANN IN OZ. Maybe working out these
bugs was part of it.

Nathan

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Aug 1, 2001  5:57 pm
Subject:  PIRATES art

I can't escape the impression that Thompson, however fond she was of
sailors, didn't understand sailing. She praises Salt's skills as a
"navigator" at a moment when he's piloting the ship, not planning its
course [ch 13]. She suggests that he could sail the CRESCENT MOON for days
all by himself [ch 5]. When the ship takes off, Thompson describes it as
"flapping he[r] sails like wings," which is wrong either nautically or
ornithologically [ch 16]. As Salt and Ato first "tugged at the wheel" of
the flying ship, they have no effect at all, yet when Roger later orders
them to turn the ship "in a twinkling they had the CRESCENT MOON turned
completely around" [ch 18].

What gives PIRATES its seafaring authenticity is Neill's nautical
knowledge. He shows convincing details of the CRESCENT MOON's instruments,
rail [ch 8], ropes [ch 14], and sails [passim]. Thompson says the ship has
"four guns, two on each side of the round house" [ch 8]. Neill adds too
many [ch 16], but at least puts the cannon where they belong on a
man-of-war.

There are a few other places where Neill didn't notice or didn't follow descriptions in the text:
* Though Thompson says Captain Salt's "beard and hair [are] bleached light
yellow by the sun" [ch 5], Neill seems to draw him consistently with black
beard and hair. That certainly adds to his deceptively fearsome appearance.

* Even after Thompson says that Ato had grown a fearsome beard that
rendered him almost unrecognizable [ch 11, 19], Neill continues to draw him as clean-shaven.
* Thompson specifies that Pigasus can't fit into an overcoat, but Neill
draws him dressed like that [ch 14], looking rather like Freddy the Pig.

Neill's nautical drawings are the highlights in this book, but he also does
a good job in most cases with the L-shaped chapter-opening space
[especially ch 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, and 18]. In chapter 19, however, that
border proves awkward, forcing him to cut off some faces.

Only one piece of art seems markedly out of place: the image of Peter
flying away on Pigasus in chapter 19 would heighten the suspense of chapter
16. Since I don't have a Reilly & Lee edition in front of me, I don't know
how crowded the earlier chapter was.

Finally, Neill adds a mouse in Kadj's cave [ch 3]--presumably to run up
Clocker.

For a look at HOWARD PYLE'S BOOK OF PIRATES, which probably influenced both
Thompson's and Neill's images of historical piracy, see this site:

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Aug 1, 2001  5:57 pm
Subject:  PIRATES geography

Thompson's geography for PIRATES seems to flip, which must have caused fits
for Haff and Martin as they created their map for the Oz Club. I believe
she started with the TIK-TOK map, reading the right side as east [ch 4].
She situates Octagon Island eight miles east of Pingaree--and thus just off
the right side of that map [ch 5]. (In Neill's picture of Ruggedo mapping
Oz in chapter 4, he too seems to put the Menankypoo region to the east, but
that's not so clear.)

Thompson's compass seems to swing when she gets out on the ocean. Salt says
he's sailed "east by nor'east" from Elbow Island, seemingly for days, to
reach Octagon Island [ch 6]. That seems to put Elbow Island in the middle
of the continent that houses Oz, rather than in the Nonestic. (Haff and
Martin indeed have to place it very near the continent.) The CRESCENT MOON
then sets off "straight toward the setting sun," or west, to reach Shell
City [ch 7-8]. At that point Haff and Martin seem to adopt the book's
references to east and west rather than reversing them. And indeed, that's
the only way Thompson's directions would keep the CRESCENT MOON off the
rocks.

(In this same chapter Salt reveals that he's studying a map of Ozamaland,
which he'll reach in CAPTAIN SALT. He later speaks of "all the treasure in
Christendom"--a reference to a Great Outside World religion that, like the
christening gifts in KABUMPO and OJO, Baum never used in his Oz books [ch
14].)

Several times Thompson has her crew visit non-places or nonsense places:
Nowhere, explicitly, and Snow Island ("it's no island") implicitly [ch 14].
In Shell City, the inhabitants' eating habits are the reverse of ordinary
people's (allowing Thompson to turn them from cordial strangers into her
standard hostile community). The Duke of Dork's castle appears formidably
solid but is actually floating. Mount Up will be destroyed by Ogowon's
breakout even more surely than a volcanic eruption [ch 15]. Thus, for all
the landfalls they make, the CRESCENT MOON crew visit only a few places
with the permanent significance of Oz.

Octagon Island, despite having a culture based on the cube of 2, is a very
odd place indeed. It has a population of 81 men and 40 women--an
astonishing adult male:female sex ratio of over 2:1. That might account for
the relatively low birth rate for an old-fashioned society, producing only
60 children. There's one other hint that the Octagoners are different from
ordinary humans: their "octagon-shaped faces" [ch 5].

Of the 80 men, 20 are farmers and fishermen producing food for the whole
island (though the 10 sailors might import more). The government seems to
employ half the male population as courtiers, councilors, servitors, and
soldiers. The remaining men are shopkeepers, not producing goods but
distributing them, and 20 scholar/artists and musicians whose services tend
not to have immediate value. The farmers and fishermen must be very
productive to feed everyone else.

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...

From:  "J. L. Bell" <JnoLBell at c...>
Date:  Wed Aug 1, 2001  5:57 pm
Subject:  PIRATES oddities

If Binx the pirate has heard of Oz [ch 4], and a crow can recognize Ruggedo
[ch 1], how does Clocker not know about Oz [ch 4]? Ruth Berman's suggestion
that the tick-tock man is deceiving Ruggedo grows more likely.

Why would Salt's pirate crew take his "second best ship, the SEA LION,"
instead of the CRESCENT MOON [ch 6]? Perhaps they prefer red sails [ch 3].
Perhaps the MOON requires more advanced knowledge to sail. Even the pirates
acknowledge that Salt is the best navigator among them.

Why does Jack Pumpkinhead still have "the candle inside his pumpkin" which
Peter inserted in JACK PUMPKINHEAD when he's probably gone through at least
one head since that book [ch 20]?

J. L. Bell JnoLBell at c...