The Meeting with Glinda

The Meeting with Glinda is the culminating event of Dorothy's journey through Oz, the moment when the accumulated promises and deferred hopes of the entire adventure are finally resolved. After the false Wizard Oz has departed and the travelers have made their way through the China Country, the Forest of Beasts, and the hill of the Hammer-Heads, they arrive at Glinda's Castle in the Quadling Country. Here, the Good Witch of the South—the most powerful of all the witches in Oz—receives them, hears their story, and reveals that the means to return Dorothy to Kansas has been with her all along, in the Silver Shoes she has worn since the first day.

The Arrival and the Audience

Before entering Glinda's presence, the travelers are taken to a room in the Castle where they make themselves presentable: Dorothy washes her face and combs her hair, the Cowardly Lion shakes the dust from his mane, the Scarecrow pats himself into his best shape, and the Tin Woodman polishes his tin and oils his joints. They are then led by a soldier girl into a big room where Glinda sits upon a throne of rubies. To their eyes, she is both beautiful and young, with rich red hair falling in flowing ringlets over her shoulders, a dress of pure white, and kind blue eyes. Dorothy tells the Witch her entire story: how the cyclone brought her to Oz, how she found her companions, and all the wonderful adventures they have met with. She adds that her greatest wish now is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened, and unless the crops are better this year than last, Uncle Henry cannot afford mourning.

The Revelation of the Silver Shoes

Glinda leans forward and kisses Dorothy's sweet, upturned face, then tells her she can indeed show her a way back to Kansas—but in return, Dorothy must give her the Golden Cap. Dorothy willingly agrees, saying it is of no use to her now. Glinda then reveals the secret that has been hidden in plain sight throughout the entire journey: the Silver Shoes have wonderful powers, and one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry the wearer to any place in the world in three steps, each step made in the wink of an eye. All Dorothy has to do is knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry her wherever she wishes to go. Glinda adds that if Dorothy had known their power, she could have gone back to Aunt Em the very first day she came to this country.

The Dispensation of Destinies

Before Dorothy departs, Glinda addresses each of her companions in turn, securing their futures. The Scarecrow will return to the Emerald City to rule, and Glinda will command the Winged Monkeys to carry him over the hill of the Hammer-Heads, for it would be a shame to deprive the people of so wonderful a ruler. The Tin Woodman will go back to the Winkies in the West, who wanted him to rule over them after the Wicked Witch died; Glinda promises that her second command to the Winged Monkeys will carry him safely there, and she tells him that although his brain may not be so large to look at as the Scarecrow's, he is really brighter when well polished, and will rule wisely and well. The Cowardly Lion will return to the grand old forest over the hill of the Hammer-Heads, where all the beasts have made him their King; Glinda's third command to the Winged Monkeys will carry him there. Having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, she will then give it to the King of the Monkeys, so that he and his band may be free forevermore.

The Farewell and the Return

Dorothy throws her arms around the Lion's neck and kisses him, patting his big head tenderly. She kisses the Tin Woodman, who is weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. She hugs the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow instead of kissing his painted face, and finds herself crying at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades. Glinda steps down from her ruby throne to give Dorothy a good-bye kiss, and Dorothy thanks her for all the kindness she has shown to her friends and herself. Then, taking Toto up solemnly in her arms and having said one last good-bye, she claps the heels of her Silver Shoes together three times and commands them to take her home to Aunt Em. Instantly she is whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she can see or feel is the wind whistling past her ears. The Silver Shoes take but three steps, and then she stops so suddenly that she rolls over upon the grass several times before she knows where she is—and finds herself sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, before the new farmhouse Uncle Henry built after the cyclone carried away the old one.