After a long while, the house landed with a gentle bump! Dorothy went to the door, and when she opened it she saw that she had landed in a lovely land of flowers and light blue grass, right next to a road of purple brick. There was a field of grain nearby, and she saw a scarecrow in it. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and a little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparkling along between blue, grassy banks. It was a very beautiful land, but suddenly Dorothy realized that she didn't know where she was, and she became a little frightened. "Oh dear," she said. She looked up and down the road, but didn't see anyone who might help her.
"Oh dear!" she said again, "Where am I?"
From somewhere off to her right came a gay voice: "Why bless my beanie, it's a little fanne!" As Dorothy looked up, the voice continued, "And she wants to know where she is!"
"Why ... why, you can talk!" exclaimed Dorothy. And then, because she was a fanne and therefore used to strange things, she added, "But where is the Grunchkin land?" It suddenly occurred to her that perhaps she had been carried off to a faraway state ... or maybe even out of the United States!
"You're in Iz!" said the scarecrow. He made a very funny picture, hanging on a pole and flapping his arms about while his bent and bedraggled beanie almost fell off his head. "And of course I can talk .. everybody can talk in Iz! Even mimeos talk, if they feel like it . . . just try to overwork a mimeo these days. Why, they've even formed a union and got the BNF to grant them a limit of six-weekly schedules as the shortest a faned can have. Humph! I suppose the next thing they'll want will be time-and-a-half for one-shots!"
"Great Ghu!" said Dorothy. "Why, this must be the True Fandom that I've read about! Where everyone is a fan, even the animals and machines and all!"
"The same," smiled the Scarecrow. "Although there is a cat in the Amber City that doesn't talk at all. Of course, that's because he's a non-fan and hasn't anything to say. His name is Kitter."
Dorothy laughed. "Then why is he here in Iz, if he's a non-fan?"
"Well, someone from outside came here, and brought the cat with him, I hear," replied the Scarecrow.
"Why doesn't he go back outside?" asked Dorothy.
"Well, maybe he likes to be able to talk with intelligent people, instead of just other cats, even if he never does. And then again, I hear that once you're in Iz, you can't get out unless the BNF says you can. He lives in the Amber City."
"Oh!" said Dorothy. "But I have to get back home!"
"Don't worry about your parents," said the Scarecrow. They'll never miss you. I'll bet since you entered that fandom outside of Iz they've hardly seen you anyway. Fans don't make good daughters and sons, unless the parents happen to be fans too."
"But I'm not worried about my parents!" cried Dorothy. "I have to get back because I left over thirty cut stencils there for my fanzine, and I don't have the original copies of the material with me!" She thought for a moment. "I'll have to go to the Amber City myself and have the BNF help me," she said. "How do I get there from here?"
"Well," said the Scarecrow, "it's a long way. If you could get me down from this pole, I could accompany you to the Amber City myself. I want to see the BNF anyway, so that I can get a new beanie. You know that beanies protect the fannish headbone from unfannish thoughts ... well, my beanie is so worn out that I'm afraid I'll turn into a non-fan if I don't look out."
"Oh dear!" said Dorothy. "That's dreadful."
The Scarecrow smiled. "But the BNF will give me a new one," he said.
Dorothy reached up both arms and lifted the figure off the pole -- for, being stuffed with straw, he was quite light. "Now then -- which way?" asked Dorothy gaily.
The Scarecrow laughed. "We'll just follow this road here. It will take us all the way to the Amber City."
And so they set off down the little road of purple brick. On one side of the road Dorothy saw a sign which said, "Path of Trufandom." "My," said the little fanne, "the Path of Trufandom leads to the Enchanted Duplicator, doesn't it?"
"Yes," said the Scarecrow. "Of course, all roads in Iz are Paths of Trufandom, because they all lead to the Amber City. The Enchanted Duplicator is there, in the BNF's slan-palace."
(Data entered by Judy Bemis)