The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - 03 Adventures Along Waits at the Yellow Brick Road. Departure to Hope

Dorothy and the Scarecrow continue along the Yellow Brick Road, their companionship easing the loneliness of the journey. Dorothy’s homesickness lingers, and the Scarecrow’s yearning for a brain adds quiet melancholy to their steps. As they enter a shadowed forest, the air grows heavy and strange. There, rusted and immobile, stands the Tin Woodman, frozen with his axe raised mid-swing. In the anime, his introduction is softened with humor and kindness, but Baum’s novel adds a darker edge: the Woodman’s body is entirely mechanical, his humanity stripped away piece by piece by the Wicked Witch of the East’s curse. Dorothy and the Scarecrow find an oil can nearby and carefully loosen his joints. The Tin Woodman speaks with gratitude, but his story is tragic — once a man of flesh and blood, he loved a Munchkin maiden. The Witch enchanted his axe so that it cut away his body, limb by limb, until nothing remained but tin. His greatest sorrow is the loss of his heart, leaving him unable to love. Dorothy recalls the Good Witch’s warning: the Wicked Witch of the West still lives and will seek revenge for her sister’s death. The Tin Woodman’s tale echoes this cruelty, reminding Dorothy that their journey is not only about reaching the Wizard but surviving the Witch’s malice. Moved by his plight, Dorothy invites him to join their quest. The Scarecrow hopes for a brain, the Tin Woodman longs for a heart, and Dorothy seeks a way home. Together, they walk the Yellow Brick Road — three companions bound by longing and loss, stepping deeper into Oz’s beauty and danger. The narration closes with a tone of both wonder and foreboding: “And so, the girl, the straw man, and the man of tin pressed onward — each seeking what they lacked, each carrying the weight of their own emptiness, upon a road that promised answers but whispered of trials yet to come.”