The Wizard of Oz (Sleep Story)
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Young Adult (18-35)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum This book is dedicated to my good friend and comrade, my wife. LF B Chapter one The Cyclone Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small for the lumber to build. It had to be carried by wagon, many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room, and this room contained a rusty looking cooking stove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs and the beds. Uncle Henry and Auntie Em had a big bed in one corner and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no Garrett at all, and no cellar except a small hole dug in the ground called Cyclone Cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor from which a ladder led down into the small dark hole. When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great grey prairie on every side, not a tree, nor house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the ploughed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away. And nowthe house was this dull and gray as everything else. When Aunt Em came there to live, she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray. They had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were grey. Also, she was thin and gaunt and never smiled. Now, when Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, and em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hands upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears, and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at. Uncle Henry never left. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what Joy Waas He was gray also from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn and rarely spoke. It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray. He was a little black dog with long, silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny We knows Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him and loved him dearly. Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously. The sky, which was even gray earth unusual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto and her arms and looked at the sky, too, and em was washing the dishes from the far north. They heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see with the long grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. They're now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way, they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction. Also, suddenly Uncle Henry stood up. There's a cyclone coming em, he called to his wife. I'll go look after the stock. Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept and AM dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her of the danger close at hand. Quick, Dorothy, she screamed. Run for the cellar! Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the girls started to get him and em, badly frightened, threw open the trapdoor in the floor and climbed on the ladder into the small dark hole. Dorothy **** Toto at last and started to follow her, and when she was halfway across the room, there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor. A strange thing then happened the house world around two or three times and rose slowly through the air door. If he felt as if she were going up in a balloon. The north and south winds met where the house stood and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In the middle of a cyclone, the air is generally still, but the great pressure of the wind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher until it was at the very top of the cyclone. And there it remained and was carried miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather. It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her. But Dorothy found she was writing quite easily after the first few worlds around. And one other time, when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently like a baby in a cradle. Toto did not like he ran about the room now here now there, Barking loudly, Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited to see what would happen. Once Toto got too near the open trapdoor and fell in, and at first the little girl thought she had lost him. But soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept to the whole **** Toto by the ear and dragged him into the room again afterward, closing the trap door so that no more accidents could happen. Hour after hour passed away, and slowly, Dorothy got over her fright. But she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first, she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again. But as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last, she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed and laid down upon it and total followed and lay down beside her. In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.
Tags
Mother, Storyteller, Calm, Calming, Relaxed, North American (General)