That same morning there was great excitement in the castle of thepowerful Sorceress of Oz, Glinda the Good. This castle, situated inthe Quadling Country, far south of the Emerald City where Ozma ruled,was a splendid structure of exquisite marbles and silver grilles.Here the Sorceress lived, surrounded by a bevy of the most beautifulmaidens of Oz, gathered from all the four countries of that fairylandas well as from the magnificent Emerald City itself, which stood inthe place where the four countries cornered. It was considered agreat honor to be allowed to serve the good Sorceress, whose arts ofmagic were used only to benefit the Oz people. Glinda was Ozma's mostvalued servant, for her knowledge of sorcery was wonderful, and shecould accomplish almost anything that her mistress, the lovely girlRuler of Oz, wished her to.

Of all the magical things which surrounded Glinda in her castle, therewas none more marvelous than her Great Book of Records. On the pagesof this Record Book were constantly being inscribed, day by day andhour by hour, all the important events that happened anywhere in theknown world, and they were inscribed in the book at exactly the momentthe events happened. Every adventure in the Land of Oz and in the bigoutside world, and even in places that you and I have never heard of,were recorded accurately in the Great Book, which never made a mistakeand stated only the exact truth. For that reason, nothing could beconcealed from Glinda the Good, who had only to look at the pages ofthe Great Book of Records to know everything that had taken place.That was one reason she was such a great Sorceress, for the recordsmade her wiser than any other living person.

This wonderful book was placed upon a big gold table that stood in themiddle of Glinda's drawing room. The legs of the table, which wereincrusted with precious gems, were firmly fastened to the tiled floor,and the book itself was chained to the table and locked with six stoutgolden padlocks, the keys to which Glinda carried on a chain that wassecured around her own neck. The pages of the Great Book were largerin size than those of an American newspaper, and although they wereexceedingly thin, there were so many of them that they made anenormous, bulky volume. With its gold cover and gold clasps, the bookwas so heavy that three men could scarcely have lifted it. Yet thismorning when Glinda entered her drawing room after breakfast, the goodSorceress was amazed to discover that her Great Book of Records hadmysteriously disappeared.

Advancing to the table, she found the chains had been cut with some sharp instrument, and this must have been done while all in the castle slept.Glinda was shocked and grieved. Who could have done this wicked, bold thing? And whocould wish to deprive her of her Great Book of Records?

The Sorceress was thoughtful for a time, considering the consequencesof her loss. Then she went to her Room of Magic to prepare a charmthat would tell her who had stolen the Record Book. But when sheunlocked her cupboard and threw open the doors, all of her magicalinstruments and rare chemical compounds had been removed from theshelves. The Sorceress has now both angry and alarmed. She sat downin a chair and tried to think how this extraordinary robbery couldhave taken place. It was evident that the thief was some person ofvery great power, or the theft could not have been accomplishedwithout her knowledge. But who, in all the Land of Oz, was powerfuland skillful enough to do this awful thing? And who, having thepower, could also have an object in defying the wisest and mosttalented Sorceress the world has ever known?

Glinda thought over the perplexing matter for a full hour, at the endof which time she was still puzzled how to explain it. But althoughher instruments and chemicals were gone, her KNOWLEDGE of magic hadnot been stolen, by any means, since no thief, however skillful, canrob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safesttreasure to acquire. Glinda believed that when she had time to gathermore magical herbs and elixirs and to manufacture more magicalinstruments, she would be able to discover who the robber was and whathad become of her precious Book of Records.

"Whoever has done this," she said to her maidens, "is a very foolishperson, for in time he is sure to be found out and will then beseverely punished."

She now made a list of the things she needed and dispatched messengersto every part of Oz with instructions to obtain them and bring them toher as soon as possible. And one of her messengers met the littleWizard of Oz, who was seated on the back of the famous live Sawhorseand was clinging to its neck with both his arms, for the Sawhorse wasspeeding to Glinda's castle with the velocity of the wind, bearing thenews that Royal Ozma, Ruler of all the great Land of Oz, had suddenlydisappeared and no one in the Emerald City knew what had become ofher.

"Also," said the Wizard as he stood before the astonished Sorceress,"Ozma's Magic Picture is gone, so we cannot consult it to discoverwhere she is. So I came to you for assistance as soon as we realizedour loss. Let us look in the Great Book of Records."

"Alas," returned the Sorceress sorrowfully, "we cannot do that, forthe Great Book of Records has also disappeared!"