Dorothy and the Scarecrow were amazed.
Standing in the forest was a man made of tin.
"Did you groan?" asked Dorothy.
"Yes," the Tin Man answered sadly.
"I have been groaning for over a year. You are the first to hear me."
"How can we help you?" asked Dorothy softly, because his voice sounded so sad.
"Oil . . . oil my joints," said the Tin Man.
"They are rusted. I cannot move them."
"Sir, I have no oil. I only have bread in my basket," said Dorothy.
"There's an oilcan in my cottage," said the Tin Man.
"Get it, and you can make me better."
Dorothy ran to the cottage and brought the oilcan back.
"Where do you need oil?" asked Dorothy.
"Do my neck first," said the Tin Man. "Ah . . . now do my arms."
As soon as his arms were free, the Tin Man lowered his ax and leaned it against a tree.
"I've been holding that ax for more than a year. Do my legs," he continued.
Dorothy and the Scarecrow did as they were asked.
The Tin Man gave a cry of joy. "Thank you! Thank you!"
"You're welcome," said Dorothy.
"You're lucky we were on our way to see Oz, a great wizard, or we wouldn't have heard you."
"Why are you going to see Oz?" he asked.
"I want to go back to Kansas, and the Scarecrow wants a brain rather than straw in his head," she replied.
The Tin Man thought for a moment and asked, "Do you think Oz would give me a heart?"
"Maybe," answered Dorothy. "Hearts are probably as easy as brains for the Wizard of Oz."
"May I join you?" asked the Tin Man.
"Yes, come along," said the Scarecrow.
"Yes!" agreed Dorothy.
So the Tin Man shouldered his ax, and they all followed the Yellow Brick Road.
Soon Dorothy was bored because there was nothing much to see on the long journey.
So she asked, "Who made you, Tin Man?
Scarecrow was made by a farmer. Were you made by a woodcutter?"
"No, I was a woodcutter's son," said the Tin Man.
"How did you become a Tin Man?" she asked.
"It's a love story with a curse by the Wicked Witch of the East," he replied.
"Please tell us," said Dorothy.
The Tin Man was quiet for a moment and then began.
"I fell in love with a beautiful girl, and I asked her to marry me."
"What did she say?" asked Dorothy.
"She said she would marry me when I had enough money to buy a house," the Tin Man replied.
"Her stepmother was a lazy woman.
She wanted her stepdaughter to stay with her and do all the housework, so she asked the Wicked Witch to prevent the marriage."
"What happened?" asked Dorothy.
"The witch enchanted my ax," said the Tin Man.
"One day when I was working, the ax cut off my leg.
I went to a tinsmith, and he made me a leg.
I went back to work again, and the ax slipped.
I had lost my other leg, but my love made me strong.
The tinsmith made me another leg, and I went back to work.
The next time the ax slipped, I lost both my arms."
"Oh no!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"Thanks to my love and the tinsmith, I was soon back at work," continued the Tin Man.
"This angered the witch, so the next time the ax took my head.
I thought that was the end, but the tinsmith made me a head, and I went back to work.
When the ax struck again, I was cut in two.
The tinsmith made a body out of tin, but the body had no heart.
Without a heart I had lost my love for the beautiful girl.
That is why I want one."
Dorothy was very moved by the story, but she was also worried.
There was very little bread left in her basket.