Dorothy and her friends arrived at the Royal Palace at an opportunetime, for Ozma was holding high court in her Throne Room, whereProfessor H. M. Wogglebug, T.E., was appealing to her to punish some ofthe students of the Royal Athletic College, of which he was the Principal.

This College is located in the Munchkin Country, but not far fromthe Emerald City. To enable the students to devote their entire timeto athletic exercises, such as boating, foot-ball, and the like,Professor Wogglebug had invented an assortment of Tablets of Learning.One of these tablets, eaten by a scholar after breakfast, wouldinstantly enable him to understand arithmetic or algebra or any otherbranch of mathematics. Another tablet eaten after lunch gave astudent a complete knowledge of geography. Another tablet made itpossible for the eater to spell the most difficult words, and stillanother enabled him to write a beautiful hand. There were tablets forhistory, mechanics, home cooking and agriculture, and it mattered notwhether a boy or a girl was stupid or bright, for the tablets taughtthem everything in the twinkling of an eye.

This method, which is patented in the Land of Oz by ProfessorWogglebug, saves paper and books, as well as the tedious hours devotedto study in some of our less favored schools, and it also allows thestudents to devote all their time to racing, base-ball, tennis andother manly and womanly sports, which are greatly interfered with bystudy in those Temples of Learning where Tablets of Learning are unknown.

But it so happened that Professor Wogglebug (who had invented somuch that he had acquired the habit) carelessly invented a Square-MealTablet, which was no bigger than your little finger-nail butcontained, in condensed form, the equal of a bowl of soup, a portionof fried fish, a roast, a salad and a dessert, all of which gave thesame nourishment as a square meal.

The Professor was so proud of these Square-Meal Tablets that hebegan to feed them to the students at his college, instead of otherfood, but the boys and girls objected because they wanted food thatthey could enjoy the taste of. It was no fun at all to swallow atablet, with a glass of water, and call it a dinner; so they refusedto eat the Square-Meal Tablets. Professor Wogglebug insisted, and theresult was that the Senior Class seized the learned Professor one dayand threw him into the river--clothes and all. Everyone knows that awogglebug cannot swim, and so the inventor of the wonderfulSquare-Meal Tablets lay helpless on the bottom of the river for threedays before a fisherman caught one of his legs on a fishhook anddragged him out upon the bank.

The learned Professor was naturally indignant at such treatment, andso he brought the entire Senior Class to the Emerald City and appealedto Ozma of Oz to punish them for their rebellion.

I do not suppose the girl Ruler was very severe with the rebelliousboys and girls, because she had herself refused to eat the Square-MealTablets in place of food, but while she was listening to theinteresting case in her Throne Room, Cap'n Bill managed to carry thegolden flower-pot containing the Magic Flower up to Trot's roomwithout it being seen by anyone except Jellia Jamb, Ozma's chief Maidof Honor, and Jellia promised not to tell.

Also the Wizard was able to carry the cage of monkeys up to one ofthe top towers of the palace, where he had a room of his own, to whichno one came unless invited. So Trot and Dorothy and Cap'n Bill andthe Wizard were all delighted at the successful end of theiradventure. The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger went to the marblestables behind the Royal Palace, where they lived while at home, andthey too kept the secret, even refusing to tell the Wooden Sawhorse,and Hank the Mule, and the Yellow Hen, and the Pink Kitten where theyhad been.

Trot watered the Magic Flower every day and allowed no one in herroom to see the beautiful blossoms except her friends, Betsy Bobbinand Dorothy. The wonderful plant did not seem to lose any of itsmagic by being removed from its island, and Trot was sure that Ozmawould prize it as one of her most delightful treasures.

Up in his tower the little Wizard of Oz began training his twelvetiny monkeys, and the little creatures were so intelligent that theylearned every trick the Wizard tried to teach them. The Wizardtreated them with great kindness and gentleness and gave them the foodthat monkeys love best, so they promised to do their best on the greatoccasion of Ozma's birthday.