Anthro In Oz


 Button Bright, ( Saladin Paracelsus de Lambertine Evagne von Smith), his head temporarily changed into that of a fox by King Dox of Foxville.

"Clever! clever indeed. Of course you don't know. Nobody knows why; we only know it's so, and can't tell why it's so. Button-Bright, those curls and blue eyes do not go well with so much wisdom. They make you look too youthful, and hide your real cleverness. Therefore, I will do you a great favor. I will confer upon you the head of a fox, so that you may hereafter look as bright as you really are."

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As he spoke the King waved his paw toward the boy, and at once the pretty curls and fresh round face and big blue eyes were gone, while in their place a fox's head appeared upon Button-Bright's shoulders—a hairy head with a sharp nose, pointed ears, and keen little eyes.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26624/26624-h/26624-h.htm#CHAP_4 


Eureka the white Kitten.  The last third of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz presents her as dishonest, and she is placed on trial for having eaten the smallest of the Nine Tiny Piglets.  Acquitted, Eureka may be conniving and deceitful, but overall she has a good heart. 
 

 The Nine Tiny Piglets.


Hank the Talking Mule with his companion, Betsy Bobbin.


King Gugu, an enormous leopard that rules the Forest of Gugu in Gillikin Country. He rules it wisely and responsibly.
 

The Lonesome Duck.  A talking magic bird that lives in a diamond palace.
 

 The Sawhorse.  Jack Pumpkinhead created him by using the Powder of Life.  His knees do not bend so he walks awkwardly.


The King of Bunnybury.


The Bunnybury Guard.


Bristle, Keeper of the Wicket.  The doorman of Bunnybury.  He can only admit visitors with an order or letter of introduction from Ozma or Glinda the Good.  When visitors are admitted, Bristle reduces them to the size of a rabbit before letting them into the village itself.


"Very well," she said, "I'll go in alone. I s'pose you're the King of this town, aren't you?"

"No," answered the rabbit, "I'm merely the Keeper of the Wicket, and a person of little importance, although I try to do my duty. I must now inform you, Princess, that before you enter our town you must consent to reduce."

"Reduce what?" asked Dorothy.

"Your size. You must become the size of the rabbits, although you may retain your own form."

"Wouldn't my clothes be too big for me?" she inquired.

"No; they will reduce when your body does."

"Can you make me smaller?" asked the girl.

"Easily," returned the rabbit.

"And will you make me big again, when I'm ready to go away?"

"I will," said he.

"All right, then; I'm willing," she announced.

The rabbit jumped from the table and ran — or rather hopped — to the further wall, where he opened a door so tiny that even Toto could scarcely have crawled through it.

"Follow me," he said.

Now, almost any other little girl would have declared that she could not get through so small a door; but Dorothy had already encountered so many fairy adventures that she believed nothing was impossible in the Land of Oz. So she quietly walked toward the door, and at every step she grew smaller and smaller until, by the time the opening was reached, she could pass through it with ease. Indeed, as she stood beside the rabbit, who sat upon his hind legs and used his paws as hands, her head was just about as high as his own.

Then the Keeper of the Wicket passed through and she followed, after which the door swung shut and locked itself with a sharp click.

Dorothy now found herself in a city so strange and beautiful that she gave a gasp of surprise. The high marble wall extended all around the place and shut out all the rest of the world. And here were marble houses of curious forms, most of them resembling overturned kettles but with delicate slender spires and minarets running far up into the sky. The streets were paved with white marble and in front of each house was a lawn of rich green clover. Everything was as neat as wax, the green and white contrasting prettily together.

But the rabbit people were, after all, the most amazing things Dorothy saw. The streets were full of them, and their costumes were so splendid that the rich dress of the Keeper of the Wicket was commonplace when compared with the others. Silks and satins of delicate hues seemed always used for material, and nearly every costume sparkled with exquisite gems.



But the lady rabbits outshone the gentlemen rabbits in splendor, and the cut of their gowns was really wonderful. They wore bonnets, too, with feathers and jewels in them, and some wheeled baby carriages in which the girl could see wee bunnies. Some were lying asleep while others lay sucking their paws and looking around them with big pink eyes.

As Dorothy was no bigger in size than the grown-up rabbits she had a chance to observe them closely before they noticed her presence. Then they did not seem at all alarmed, although the little girl naturally became the center of attraction and regarded her with great curiosity.


From The Emerald City Of Oz.
 

 
The Cowardly Lion, W. W. Denslow.


The Hungry Tiger.  A friend of the Cowardly Lion, he is always hungry no matter how much he eats, and longs to eat a "fat baby," though he never would because his conscience will not allow him to do so.
 

 The Glass Cat, cat made of glass who was brought to life by the "Powder of Life".  She is portrayed as vain and aloof, due to the fact that she has clearly visible pink brains and a transparent glass heart. 
 

 Two Kahlidas.  A Kalidah is characterized as a ferocious monster having the head of a tiger and the body of a bear.  W. W. Denslow.


Marie, Queen of the Field Mice.  Denslow.


H. M. Wogglebug, T. E.  (Highly Magnified and Thoroughly Educated).
 
He lived the life of a normal insect until he crawled into a country schoolhouse (presumably somewhere in the Winkie Country of the Land of Oz) and listened to the lessons and lectures the famous Professor Nowitall gave his pupils for about three years. One day, the teacher found and caught him, and decided to use him for an impromptu lesson on woggle-bugs. Nowitall put the bug under a microscope and projected his highly magnified image onto a screen with advanced technology. The bug was proud of his new size; he bowed to the students, and one unnamed little girl standing on the windowsill was startled and fell backward out of the window. While everyone rushed outside to see if she was all right, the Woggle-bug secretly jumped off the screen and ran away. He has remained magnified ever since.
 

 The Frogman of Oz with The Patchwork Girl.  The Frogman is compelled to always speak the truth due to his having bathed in The Truth Pond, something all politicians should be immersal and forcibly baptized in before taking office.
 

 Jack Pumpkinhead.  He is described as being a very timid and gentle character, one who wouldn't even harm a fly. 
 

 King of the Fairy Beavers.  He rules an underground kingdom of Fairy Beavers, were I to guess.
 

 Quax the Dragon.  He is a is a dragon with an electric light attached to his tail who is a descendant of the Original Dragon and first appeared in Tik-Tok of Oz
 

 The Gump.  He is is an amalgam of parts with the mounted head of an elk-like creature.  Wogglebug combined the head with two sofas for a body, palm trees for wings, and a broom for a tail: all tied together with clothesline and ropes. After crashing into a jackdaw's nest, Wogglebug used a Wishing Pill to fix him. After the Land of Oz is retaken by Princess Ozma, the Gump is disassembled at his request leaving him a talking head that is still living in the Royal Palace of Oz. 
 
 
King Kik-A-Bray, ruler of Dunkiton.  No.  This is the Shaggy Man after getting his head changed to a donkey's by the King.  This was a reward for the Shaggy Man's courtesy.
 


 


 



 

 Road To Oz, Marvel.  2012 - 2013


 The other pictures are by Skottie Young, best known for this guy-


Talking animals are nothing but trouble.  Unless otherwise mentioned all of these pictures are by John Rea Neill, who illustrated 40 of the Oz books, 4 which he wrote.  Oh, and that Gump does not look like Neill's work.  That seems to be the work of Mike Ploog.


Yes, definitely Mike Ploog. 


Farewell.


Comments

  1. I knew there were other books in the Oz series but never knew there were so many anthro characters!

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are about 52 Oz books, Baum wrote 14. They are all over anthro characters, these are just some of the main ones. Tik Tok is anthro, although a machine. The 1985 Disney Return To Oz is far closer to the books than the MGM movie, as good as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm with Foxy on this one -- I didn't realize that anthro was such a recurrent theme in Baum's novels. I guess Dame Dingle made an impact on him!

    ReplyDelete
  4. There are more anthropomorphic characters in the Oz books then there ain't. What with the Powder of Life, many objects walked and talked. There has been discussion among the cognoscenti as to why the Powder's container was not animated.

    ReplyDelete

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