When Dorothy awoke the sun was shining through the trees and Toto had long been out chasing birds around him and squirrels. She sat up and looked around her. Scarecrow, still standing patiently in his corner, waiting for her.

“We must go and search for water,”she said to him.

“Why do you want water?”he asked.

“To wash my face clean after the dust of the road, and to drink, so the dry bread will not stick in my throat.”

“It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh,”said the Scarecrow thoughtfully, “for you must sleep, and eat and drink. However, you have brains, and it is worth a lot of bother to be able to think properly.”

They left the cottage and walked through the trees until they found a little spring of clear water, where Dorothy drank and bathed and ate her breakfast. She saw there was not much bread left in the basket, and the girl was thankful the Scarecrow did not have to eat anything, for there was scarcely enough for herself and Toto for the day.

When she had finished her meal, and was about to go back to the road of yellow brick, she was startled to hear a deep groan near by.

“What was that?”she asked timidly.

“I cannot imagine,”replied the Scarecrow; “but we can go and see.”

Just then another groan reached their ears, and the sound seemed to come from behind them. They turned and walked through the forest a few steps, when Dorothy discovered something shining in a ray of sunshine that fell between the trees. She ran to the place and then stopped short, with a little cry of surprise.

One of the big trees had been partly chopped through, and standing beside it, with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a man made entirely of tin. His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, but he stood perfectly motionless, as if he could not stir at all.

Dorothy looked at him in amazement, and so did the Scarecrow, while Toto barked sharply and made a snap at the tin legs, which hurt his teeth.

“Did you groan?”asked Dorothy.

“Yes,”answered the tin man, “I did. I've been groaning for more than a year, and no one has ever heard me before or come to help me.”

“What can I do for you?”she inquired softly, for she was moved by the sad voice in which the man spoke.

“Get an oil-can and oil my joints,”he answered. “They are rusted so badly that I cannot move them at all; if I am well oiled I shall soon be all right again. You will find an oil-can on a shelf in my cottage.”

Dorothy at once ran back to the cottage and found the oil-can, and then she returned and asked anxiously, “Where are your joints?”

“Oil my neck, first,”replied the Tin Woodman.

So she oiled it, and as it was quite badly rusted the Scarecrow took hold of the tin head and moved it gently from side to side until it worked freely, and then the man could turn it himself.

“Now oil the joints in my arms,”he said.

And Dorothy oiled them and the Scarecrow bent them carefully until they were quite free from rust and as good as new.

The Tin Woodman gave a sigh of satisfaction and lowered his axe, which he leaned against the tree.

“This is a great comfort,”he said. “I have been holding that axe in the air ever since I rusted, and I'm glad to be able to put it down at last. Now, if you will oil the joints of my legs, I shall be all right once more.”

So they oiled his legs until he could move them freely; and he thanked them again and again for his release, for he seemed a very polite creature,and very grateful.

“I might have stood there always if you had not come along,”he said. “so you have certainly saved my life. How did you happen to be here?”

“We are on our way to the Emerald City to see the Great Oz,”she answered, “and we stopped at your cottage to pass the night.”

“Why do you wish to see Oz?”he asked.

“I want him to send me back to Kansas, and the Scarecrow wants him to put a few brains into his head,”she replied.

The Tin Woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment. Then he said: “Do you suppose Oz could give me a heart?”

“Why, I guess so,”Dorothy answered. “It would be as easy as to give the Scarecrow brains.”

“True,”the Tin Woodman returned. “So, if you will allow me to join your party, I will also go to the Emerald City and ask Oz to help me.”

“Come along,”said the Scarecrow heartily, and Dorothy added that she would be pleased to have his company. So the Tin Woodman shouldered his axe and they all passed through the forest until they came to the road that was paved with yellow brick.

The Tin Woodman had asked Dorothy to put the oil-can in her basket. “For,”he said, “if I should get caught in the rain, and rust again, I would need the oil-can badly.”

It was a bit of good luck to have their new comrade join the party, for soon after they had begun their journey again they came to a place where the trees and branches grew so thick over the road that the travelers could not pass. But the Tin Woodman set to work with his axe and chopped so well that soon he cleared a passage for the entire party.

Dorothy was thinking so earnestly as they walked along that she did not notice when the Scarecrow stumbled into a hole and rolled over to the side of the road. Indeed he was obliged to call to her to help him up again.

“Why didn't you walk around the hole?”asked the Tin Woodman.

“I don't know enough,”replied the Scarecrow cheerfully. “My head is stuffed with straw, you know, and that is why I am going to Oz to ask him for some brains.”

“Oh, I see,”said the Tin Woodman. “But, after all, brains are not the best things in the world.”

“Have you any?”inquired the Scarecrow.

“No, my head is quite empty,”answered the Woodman. “But once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart.”

“And why is that?”asked the Scarecrow.

“I will tell you my story, and then you will know.”

So, while they were walking through the forest, the Tin Woodman told the following story:

“I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in the forest and sold the wood for a living. When I grew up, I too became a woodchopper, and after my father died I took care of my old mother as long as she lived. Then I made up my mind that instead of living alone I would marry, so that I might not become lonely.

“There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautiful that I soon grew to love her with all my heart. She, on her part, promised to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money to build a better house for her; so I set to work harder than ever. But the girl lived with an old woman who did not want her to marry anyone, for she was so lazy she wished the girl to remain with her and do the cooking and the housework. So the old woman went to the Wicked Witch of the East, and promised her two sheep and a cow if she would prevent the marriage. Thereupon the Wicked Witch enchanted my axe, and when I was chopping away at my best one day, for I was anxious to get the new house and my wife as soon as possible, the axe slipped all at once and cut off my left leg.

“This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a one-legged man could not do very well as a wood-chopper. So I went to a tinsmith and had him make me a new leg out of tin. The leg worked very well, once I was used to it. But my action angered the Wicked Witch of the East, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the pretty Munchkin girl. When I began chopping again, my axe slipped and cut off my right leg. Again I went to the tinsmith, and again he made me a leg out of tin. After this the enchanted axe cut off my arms, one after the other; but, nothing daunted, I had them replaced with tin ones. The Wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my head, and at first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinsmith happened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.

“I thought I had beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than ever;but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be. She thought of a new way to kill my love for the beautiful Munchkin maiden, and made my axe slip again, so that it cut right through my body, splitting me into two halves. Once more the tinsmith came to my help and made me a body of tin, fastening my tin arms and legs and head to it, by means of joints, so that I could move around as well as ever. But, alas! I had now no heart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin girl, and did not care whether I married her or not. I suppose she is still living with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.

“My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proud of it and it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me. There was only one danger—that my joints would rust; but I kept an oil-can in my cottage and took care to oil myself whenever I needed it. However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and, being caught in a rainstorm, before I thought of the danger my joints had rusted, and I was left to stand in the woods until you came to help me. It was a terrible thing to undergo, but during the year I stood there I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth; but no one can love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved to ask Oz to give me one. If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin maiden and marry her.”

Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interested in the story of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was so anxious to get a new heart.

“All the same,”said the Scarecrow, “I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one.”

“I shall take the heart,”returned the Tin Woodman. “for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.”

Dorothy did not say anything, for she was puzzled to know which of her two friends was right, and she decided if she could only get back to Kansas and Aunt Em, it did not matter so much whether the Woodman had no brains and the Scarecrow no heart, or each got what he wanted.

What worried her most was that the bread was nearly gone, and another meal for herself and Toto would empty the basket. To be sure neither the Woodman nor the Scarecrow ever ate anything, but she was not made of tin nor straw, and could not live unless she was fed.

多蘿西醒來(lái)時(shí)，太陽(yáng)正照過(guò)樹林。透透已經(jīng)出去好久了，正在追逐四周的小鳥和松鼠。她坐起來(lái)，看了看四周。只見稻草人仍耐心地站在角落里，等候著她。

“我們必須去尋找水。”她對(duì)他說(shuō)。

“你為什么想要水？”稻草人問(wèn)。

“一路上灰塵滿面，我要把臉洗干凈，還要喝水，這樣干面包就不會(huì)卡在我的喉嚨里了。”

“肉做的身體一定不方便，”稻草人若有所思地說(shuō)，“因?yàn)槟惚仨毸X(jué)、吃喝。不過(guò)，你有腦子，能真正思考，即使有再多煩惱，也值得。”

他們離開小屋，穿過(guò)樹林，找到了一小股清泉。多蘿西便在那里喝水、洗臉、吃面包。她發(fā)現(xiàn)籃子里的面包剩得不多了，幾乎不夠她自己和透透吃一天了。因此小女孩非常感謝稻草人什么東西也不必吃。

她吃完?yáng)|西，正要回到黃磚路上去，這時(shí)聽到附近一聲低沉的呻吟，她嚇了一跳。

“那是什么？”她膽怯地問(wèn)。

“我想不出來(lái)，”稻草人回答說(shuō)，“我們可以去看看。”

正在這時(shí)，又一聲呻吟傳到了他們的耳朵里，那聲音仿佛是從他們后面?zhèn)鱽?lái)的。他們轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身，穿過(guò)樹林走了幾步。這時(shí)，多蘿西發(fā)現(xiàn)有什么東西在樹林間，被陽(yáng)光照得閃閃發(fā)亮。她跑到那地方，突然停住腳步，發(fā)出一小聲驚叫。

原來(lái)是有一棵大樹被砍去了一部分，樹邊是一個(gè)完全用鐵皮做的人，他手里舉著一把斧頭。他的頭、手臂和腿都連在身上，但他站在那里一動(dòng)不動(dòng)，好像根本不能動(dòng)彈。

多蘿西驚訝地望著他，稻草人也驚訝地望著他，透透尖聲吠叫，一口咬在鐵皮人的腿上，卻傷了自己的牙齒。

“是你在呻吟嗎？”多蘿西問(wèn)。

“是，”鐵皮人回答說(shuō)，“是我。我已經(jīng)呻吟一年多了，卻沒(méi)有一個(gè)人聽到后過(guò)來(lái)幫我。”

“我能幫你做些什么？”她柔聲問(wèn)道，因?yàn)樗昏F皮人說(shuō)話時(shí)難過(guò)的聲音感動(dòng)了。

“去拿一只油壺，給我的各個(gè)關(guān)節(jié)加些油，”他回答說(shuō)。“它們銹得非常厲害，我根本無(wú)法活動(dòng)；如果好好給我加些油，我就馬上會(huì)正常。你可以在我小屋的一個(gè)架子上找到一只油壺。”

多蘿西馬上跑回小屋，找到了油壺，然后又折回來(lái)，急切地問(wèn)道：“你的關(guān)節(jié)都在哪里？”

“先把油加在我的脖子上。”鐵皮樵夫回答說(shuō)。

于是，她就把油加在了他的脖子上，因?yàn)槟抢镤P得非常厲害。稻草人抓住鐵皮人的頭，來(lái)回輕輕地活動(dòng)，直到他能夠轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)，隨后鐵皮人就能自己轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)了。

“現(xiàn)在給我手臂的那些關(guān)節(jié)上加些油。”他說(shuō)。

隨后，多蘿西給它們加油。稻草人小心翼翼地把它們彎曲，直到完全沒(méi)有銹了，像新的一樣。

鐵皮樵夫發(fā)出了一聲滿意的嘆息，放下了他靠在樹上的斧頭。

“這真舒服啊，”他說(shuō)，“自從生銹以來(lái)，我就一直把斧頭舉在空中。我很高興終于能把它放下來(lái)了。現(xiàn)在，如果你給我的腿關(guān)節(jié)再加些油，我就會(huì)再次正常活動(dòng)了。”

于是，他們把油加在他的腿上，直到他能自由活動(dòng)。他因得救而向他們?cè)偃兄x，好像是個(gè)很有禮貌的人，而且討人喜歡。

“如果你們不路過(guò)，也許我會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)站在那里，”他說(shuō)，“所以你們確實(shí)救了我一命。你們?cè)趺磿?huì)碰巧到這里來(lái)？”

“我們要去翡翠城拜訪偉大的奧茲，”她回答說(shuō)，“我們?cè)谀愕男∥堇锿Ａ暨^(guò)夜。”

“你們?yōu)槭裁聪肴グ菰L奧茲？”他問(wèn)。

“我想要他把我送回堪薩斯州，稻草人想讓他在他的腦袋里裝一些腦子。”她回答說(shuō)。

鐵皮人好像深思了一會(huì)兒，說(shuō)道：“你認(rèn)為奧茲能給我一顆心嗎？”

“哎呀，我想能，”多蘿西回答說(shuō)，“那會(huì)像給稻草人腦子一樣容易。”

“是嘛，”鐵皮人回答說(shuō)，“那如果你們?cè)试S我加入你們的隊(duì)伍，我也要去翡翠城請(qǐng)奧茲幫我。”

“一塊走吧。”稻草人親切地說(shuō)。多蘿西補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，她很高興有他做伴。于是，鐵皮樵夫扛起斧頭，他們一起穿過(guò)樹林，一直走到了那條鋪著黃磚的路上。

鐵皮樵夫請(qǐng)求多蘿西把油壺放進(jìn)她的籃子里。“因?yàn)槿绻伊苡辏彼f(shuō)，“就又會(huì)生銹，所以我非常需要油壺。”

他們的隊(duì)伍有鐵皮樵夫加入，真有點(diǎn)兒運(yùn)氣。因?yàn)樗麄冇謩?dòng)身后不久，就來(lái)到了一個(gè)樹木和樹枝都非常茂密且遮住了去路的地方，行人無(wú)法通過(guò)。鐵皮樵夫掄起斧頭，左劈右砍，馬上就為一行人砍出了一條通道。

他們一邊走，多蘿西一邊認(rèn)真想，所以沒(méi)有注意到稻草人跌進(jìn)了坑里，滾到了路邊。他不得不朝她叫喊，請(qǐng)她把自己重新扶起來(lái)。

“為什么你不繞過(guò)那個(gè)坑走？”鐵皮樵夫問(wèn)。

“我不夠了解，”稻草人高興地回答說(shuō)，“我的腦袋里塞滿了稻草，你知道的，這就是我要去奧茲那里請(qǐng)他給我一些腦子的原因。”

“噢，我明白了，”鐵皮樵夫說(shuō)，“可畢竟來(lái)說(shuō)，腦子不是世界上最好的東西。”

“你有嗎？”稻草人問(wèn)。

“沒(méi)有，我的腦袋完全是空的，”鐵皮人回答道，“但我曾有腦子，還有一顆心。所以，把它們兩個(gè)試過(guò)后，我寧愿有一顆心。”

“那是為什么？”稻草人問(wèn)。

“我把自己的故事告訴你，你就知道了。”

于是，當(dāng)他們穿過(guò)這片樹林時(shí)，鐵皮樵夫就講起了下面的故事：

“我是樵夫的兒子。父親在森林里砍伐樹木，以賣木材為生。我長(zhǎng)大后，也成了樵夫。父親去世后，我照看在世的老母親。后來(lái)，我下定決心要結(jié)婚而不是孤獨(dú)生活，這樣我就可能不孤單了。

“有一個(gè)芒奇金女孩，她非常美麗。不久，我就一心一意地愛(ài)上了她。她答應(yīng)說(shuō)，只要我賺的錢夠?yàn)樗w一座較好的房子，她就嫁給我；所以，我就開始比以前更加拼命地工作。可這女孩和一個(gè)老婦人住在一起。老婦人不想讓女孩嫁給任何人，因?yàn)樗軕校胱屌⒑退^續(xù)住在一起，為她做飯、做家務(wù)。于是，老婦人就去找東方壞女巫，許諾說(shuō)，如果她能阻止這場(chǎng)婚姻，就送給她兩只羊和一頭奶牛。因此，壞女巫給我的斧頭施了魔法。有一天，我正在竭盡全力地砍伐，因?yàn)槲移炔患按叵氡M快蓋起新房、娶到妻子，這時(shí)斧頭突然滑落，砍掉了我的左腿。

“這顯然首先是一個(gè)巨大的不幸，因?yàn)槲抑酪粋€(gè)獨(dú)腿人做不好樵夫。于是，我找到一個(gè)白鐵匠，讓他給我裝了一條鐵皮做的新腿。我一旦用慣那條腿，就活動(dòng)自如起來(lái)。可我的行為激怒了東方壞女巫，因?yàn)樗饝?yīng)過(guò)老婦人讓我不能娶漂亮的芒奇金女孩。當(dāng)我又開始砍樹時(shí)，斧頭又滑落了，砍掉了我的右腿。我又找到那個(gè)白鐵匠，他又給我裝了一條鐵皮做的腿。從那以后，這把被施了魔法的斧頭又先后砍掉了我的雙臂。可什么也嚇不倒我，我也用鐵皮替換了它們。于是，壞女巫又讓那斧頭滑出去，砍掉了我的頭，起先我以為自己完了。可是，那個(gè)白鐵匠剛好路過(guò)，就為我裝了一個(gè)鐵皮做的新頭。

“當(dāng)時(shí)，我以為自己已經(jīng)打敗了壞女巫，就比以前更加拼命地工作；可是，我根本不知道我的敵人會(huì)多么殘忍。她想出了一個(gè)新方法來(lái)毀掉我對(duì)美麗的芒奇金少女的愛(ài)，她讓我的斧頭再次滑出去，劃過(guò)我的身體，把我劈成了兩半。白鐵匠又一次過(guò)來(lái)幫我，給我裝了一個(gè)鐵皮身體，依靠這些關(guān)節(jié)，把我的鐵皮手臂、腿和頭扣在身體上，所以我能像以前一樣活動(dòng)自如。可是，唉！我現(xiàn)在沒(méi)有了心，失去了對(duì)芒奇金女孩的所有的愛(ài)，不在乎是不是娶她。我想她還和老婦人住在一起，等著我去娶她。

“我的身體在陽(yáng)光下閃閃發(fā)亮，所以我非常驕傲，如果我的斧頭滑落，現(xiàn)在沒(méi)什么關(guān)系，因?yàn)樗荒芸澄伊恕，F(xiàn)在只有一個(gè)危險(xiǎn)——我的關(guān)節(jié)會(huì)生銹。不過(guò)，我在小屋里存有一只油壺，無(wú)論什么時(shí)候我需要，就留心自己加油。然而，有一天，我忘記了加油，而且被困在暴風(fēng)雨中，還沒(méi)等我想到危險(xiǎn)，各個(gè)關(guān)節(jié)就已經(jīng)生銹了，我就留下，站在了樹林里，直到你們過(guò)來(lái)幫我。盡管這樣的遭遇是一件可怕的事兒，但在這一年中，我站在這里有時(shí)間去思考，我知道最大的損失是失去了心。我戀愛(ài)時(shí)是世界上最快樂(lè)的人，但沒(méi)有心就不會(huì)愛(ài)，所以我決定去請(qǐng)奧茲給我一顆心。如果他給了我一顆心，我就能回到那個(gè)芒奇金女孩身邊，娶她為妻。”

多蘿西和稻草人對(duì)鐵皮樵夫講的故事非常感興趣，現(xiàn)在他們才知道他為什么這樣急著再要一顆心。

稻草人說(shuō)：“我還是想得到腦子，而不是一顆心，因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)笨蛋就是有了一顆心，也不知道怎樣使用。”

“我要得到一顆心，”鐵皮樵夫回答說(shuō)，“因?yàn)槟X子不會(huì)使人快樂(lè)，快樂(lè)是世界上再好不過(guò)的事兒。”

多蘿西什么也沒(méi)說(shuō)，因?yàn)樗恢浪膬蓚€(gè)朋友中誰(shuí)說(shuō)得對(duì)。她決定，只要她能回到堪薩斯州和埃姆嬸身邊，鐵皮樵夫有沒(méi)有腦子、稻草人有沒(méi)有心、每個(gè)人能不能得到想要的東西，都無(wú)關(guān)緊要了。

最讓她擔(dān)心的是面包快要沒(méi)了，她和透透再吃一頓，籃子就要空了。當(dāng)然，鐵皮樵夫和稻草人都不吃任何東西。可是，她既不是鐵皮做的，也不是稻草做的，所以不吃東西就活不下去。