Oz's Balloon
Oz's Balloon is the central artifact of the Wizard's final, failed promise — a handmade silk envelope sewn by Dorothy herself, launched with great ceremony, and lost when its tethers snapped before she could board. It is the only mechanical means of aerial escape Oz ever devises, and its departure marks the end of his reign and the beginning of the Scarecrow's rule over the Emerald City.
Construction and Materials
Oz conceived the balloon after admitting he could not manufacture a cyclone. He reasoned that since both he and Dorothy had arrived in Oz through the air — he by balloon, she by cyclone — the best way to cross the surrounding desert was also by air. He declared that a balloon is made of silk coated with glue to retain gas, and that he possessed plenty of silk in the Palace. However, no gas existed in all of Oz to fill it, so he decided to use hot air instead, acknowledging that hot air was inferior because if it cooled the balloon would descend into the desert and they would be lost. Dorothy helped sew the strips of silk together, taking three days to complete a bag more than twenty feet long. The strips were of light green, dark green, and emerald green, for Oz fancied making the balloon in different shades of the color that surrounded them. After the sewing was finished, Oz painted the inside with a thin coat of glue to make it airtight. He then sent the Soldier with the Green Whiskers for a large clothes basket, which he fastened with many ropes to the bottom of the balloon.
The Launch
When the balloon was ready, Oz sent word to his people that he was going to visit a great brother Wizard who lived in the clouds. The news spread rapidly, and everyone came to see the sight. The Tin Woodman chopped a big pile of wood and made a fire, and Oz held the bottom of the balloon over it so the hot air would be caught in the silken bag. Gradually the balloon swelled out and rose until the basket just touched the ground. Oz climbed into the basket and announced to the crowd that he was going away and that the Scarecrow would rule in his place. The balloon tugged hard at its restraining rope. Oz called for Dorothy to hurry, but she could not find Toto, who had run into the crowd to bark at a kitten. By the time she found the dog and ran back, the ropes snapped and the balloon rose into the air without her. Dorothy screamed for him to come back, but Oz called down, "I can't come back, my dear," and then "Good-bye!" The balloon rose higher and higher, and that was the last any of them ever saw of Oz, the Wonderful Wizard.
Consequences and Aftermath
Oz's departure left Dorothy weeping bitterly at the loss of her hope to return to Kansas, though she later felt glad she had not gone up in the balloon. The Scarecrow became the ruler of the Emerald City, and the people, though they grieved for many days, accepted him as their new leader, saying that Oz had left the Wise Scarecrow to rule over them. The balloon itself vanished into the sky, and its fate — whether Oz reached Omaha safely or not — is left unknown. The balloon thus functions as the final unmasking of Oz's humbug nature: he could not keep his promise to Dorothy, and his grand exit was as accidental and theatrical as his reign had been.
