Wicked Witch's Courtyard

The Wicked Witch's Courtyard is the enclosed prison yard within the Castle of the Wicked Witch of the West, a space defined by its high iron fence and its function as a cage for the Cowardly Lion after the Winged Monkeys capture him. It is the setting for a sustained power struggle between the Witch and the Lion, revealing the limits of her authority and the Lion's stubborn resistance.

Layout and Function

The courtyard is a small yard surrounded by a high iron fence, designed to prevent escape. After the Winged Monkeys throw pieces of stout rope around the Lion, winding many coils about his body, head, and legs until he cannot bite, scratch, or struggle, they lift him up and fly away with him to the Witch's castle, where he is placed in this yard. The space is thus a prison, intended to hold the Lion until he submits to the Witch's will.

The Witch's Attempt to Harness the Lion

The Wicked Witch of the West, having failed to destroy the Lion along with her other enemies, decides to harness him like a horse, planning to make him draw her chariot whenever she wishes to go for a drive. She opens the gate to the courtyard, but the Lion gives a loud roar and bounds at her so fiercely that the Witch becomes afraid, runs out, and shuts the gate again. Unable to physically subdue him, she resorts to starvation, telling the Lion through the bars of the gate, "If I cannot harness you, I can starve you. You shall have nothing to eat until you do as I wish." Thereafter, she takes no food to the imprisoned Lion, but every day at noon she comes to the gate and asks, "Are you ready to be harnessed like a horse?" Each time, the Lion answers, "No. If you come in this yard, I will bite you."

Dorothy's Secret Support

The reason the Lion does not have to do as the Witch wishes is that every night, while the Witch is asleep, Dorothy carries him food from the cupboard. After he has eaten, he lies down on his bed of straw, and Dorothy lies beside him, putting her head on his soft, shaggy mane, while they talk of their troubles and try to plan some way to escape. The courtyard thus becomes a site of secret solidarity between the two prisoners, a space where the Witch's power is nightly undermined by Dorothy's quiet defiance.

Narrative Significance

The courtyard standoff establishes the Lion's character as one who, despite his self-proclaimed cowardice, will not yield to tyranny. It also demonstrates the Witch's cruelty and her inability to break the Lion's spirit through force or deprivation. The space is ultimately a holding cell, a place of waiting and resistance that ends only when Dorothy melts the Witch with a bucket of water, after which she runs out to the courtyard to tell the Lion that the Wicked Witch of the West has come to an end and that they are no longer prisoners.