"The Wizard of the Emerald City" is the name of the fairy tale by Alexander Volkov, published in 1939 and has become one of the favorite books of several generations of Soviet children. The tale was created on the basis of the book by the American Baum, which tells about the adventures of Dorothy in the country of Oz.
"The Wizard of the Emerald City" - a series of children's tales by the Soviet writer A. Volkov. The first three books were created based on Baum’s original story “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, and the rest of the series is a continuation of the adventures of the main and secondary characters of the magic country, already written by Volkov himself.
Main characters
Ellie is a little girl who is about 9 years old, brought by a terrible hurricane into the Fairyland. Ellie is very kind, selfless and responsive, a little naive and trusting, always coming to the aid of friends.
Toto is a faithful doggie Ellie, who began to talk, once in the Fairyland. It was because of him that the girl fell into that unfortunate hurricane, but then Totoshka became an indispensable assistant to her mistress, having obtained Silver shoes for her, exposing the adventurer Goodwin and providing many other useful services.
Scarecrow - one of Ellie’s companions, a scarecrow that dreams of becoming smart. But he didn’t manage to think too well, because in his head there was only straw. Through traveling with Ellie, he received brains from Goodwin and subsequently became the wise, kind, and generous ruler of the Emerald City.
The lumberjack was once a former lumberjack man who fell victim to the evil spells of Gingema. His ax, cursed by a sorceress, chopped off a lumberjack's arms, legs and head, but the blacksmith did not let his friend die, making him iron parts in return for the lost ones. Having become completely iron, the lumberjack dreamed of regaining his heart, capable of loving, and Ellie helped him realize this dream.
Leo - at first very Cowardly, and then, after meeting with Goodwin, the Brave Lion met with the girl and her friends in the forest. Picking up courage, Leo tried to swallow Totoshka, but he, after a moment of bewilderment, scared the predatory animal with his bark. In desperation, Leo admitted to the company that he was very cowardly, but wanted to get courage from Goodwin.
Goodwin is the very main Wizard of the beautiful Emerald City, who conquered the whole Magic Land with his magic. In fact, this is just a cunning magician from the circus, an ordinary person who got from our world into a magical country almost the same as the main character Ellie.
Fairy tale content
Ellie lived with her mom and dad in Kansas, but once, during a severe hurricane, which later turned out to be caused by the very evil witch Gingham, she was transported in a van with Totoshka to the magical world through high mountains and lifeless deserts. The kind sorceress Willina, competing with Gingem, was able to direct the van so that he fell on the head of the evil sorceress and crushed her.
Villina tells Ellie how a girl can return home - for this she needs to go to the Emerald City, find the local ruler, the great wizard Goodwin and ask him to fulfill one desire. But there is a condition - Ellie must help the three beings realize their dreams.
On the way, Ellie meets the Scarecrow, Lumberjack and Leo, who have become her faithful companions. The scarecrow dreams of being smart, the Lumberjack longs to get a living heart, and Leo wants to get rid of innate cowardice.
The road to Goodwin is long and filled with amazing adventures. Ellie’s three companions themselves do not notice how they demonstrate all those aspects of character that they dream of possessing, helping each other, saving Ellie, Totoshka and the rest, finding brilliant solutions to the difficulties that arise.
Goodwin agrees to fulfill the wishes of friends, but with one condition - if Ellie and company free the residents of the Violet Country from Bastinda, Gingema’s sister, an even more cruel and evil sorceress. At first, it seems to friends that they will not be able to cope with such a difficult task, but they succeed.
Returning to Goodwin with a victory, they find out that behind the mask of a powerful wizard is a circus artist from the world of Elli, who does not have any magic. However, Goodwin convinces Leo, the Scarecrow and the Lumberjack that he still learned something in the Magic Land and gives them what he wants, and he is going to return with Ellie to their home world in a balloon, appointing Scarecrow as the new ruler of the Emerald City.
However, the wind breaks the rope and one Goodwin flies home, who has already managed to climb into the basket of the balloon. Ellie thinks that she will never see her home again, but on the advice of Dean Gyor, her friends set off again - this time to the Pink Country, where the good sorceress Stella lives to find a solution for Ellie. And it is found! The very Silver Gingham shoes that Totoshka found on the first day in the Magic Land are able to transfer their master to any place, you just need to click his heels.
about the author
Alexander Volkov was born in the summer of 1891 in Ust-Kamenogorsk. After the revolution, he moved to Yaroslavl, where he led the school for a long time. In 1929, Alexander Melentevich moved to Moscow, where he graduated from the university, and soon became first a teacher and then an assistant professor of higher mathematics at the metropolitan institute. Despite his dedication to mathematics, Volkov never stopped writing prose, starting his first novel at age 12.
Alexander began to be published already in 1916, wrote several plays for provincial theaters, and already in the late 30s he became a famous literary figure. His novels and novels, real historical research with a touch of science fiction, were published in various languages in many countries of the world, and their total circulation exceeded 25 million copies. Alexander Melentievich can be safely put on a par with A.N. Tolstoy and A.R. Belyaev, the discoverers of Russian science fiction.
Volkov’s first children's story was released in 1940, and then many other children's stories and short stories followed. Nevertheless, Volkov is familiar to the general public precisely as the author of the fairy tale story "The Wizard of the Emerald City", a remake of the American fairy tale that gave him popular love.
