“I am very sorry,” declared Ugu. “I’ve been thinking over my misdeeds for a long time, for doves have little else to do but think, and I’m surprised that I was such a wicked man and had so little regard for the rights of others. I am now convinced that even had I succeeded in making myself ruler of all Oz I should not have been happy, for many days of quiet thought have shown me that only those things one acquires honestly are able to render one content.”

“I guess that’s so,” said Trot.

“Anyhow,” said Betsy, “the bad man seems truly sorry, and if he has now become a good and honest man we ought to forgive him.”

“I fear I cannot become a good man again,” said Ugu, “for the transformation I am under will always keep me in the form of a dove. But, with the kind forgiveness of my former enemies, I hope to become a very good dove, and highly respected.”

“Wait here till I run for my Magic Belt,” said Dorothy, “and I’ll transform you back to your reg’lar shape in a jiffy.”

“No—don’t do that!” pleaded the dove, fluttering its wings in an excited way. “I only want your forgiveness; I don’t want to be a man again. As Ugu the Shoemaker I was skinny and old and unlovely; as a dove I am quite pretty to look at. As a man I was ambitious and cruel, while as a dove I can be content with my lot and happy in my simple life. I have learned to love the free and independent life of a bird and I’d rather not change back.”

“Just as you like, Ugu,” said Dorothy, resuming her seat. “Perhaps you are right, for you’re cert’nly a better dove than you were a man, and if you should ever backslide, an’ feel wicked again, you couldn’t do much harm as a gray dove.”

“Then you forgive me for all the trouble I caused you?” he asked earnestly.

“Of course; anyone who’s sorry just has to be forgiven.”

“Thank you,” said the gray dove, and flew away again.

The End

Other Oz books by L. Frank Baum (“Royal Historian of Oz”)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - 9781443420488

The Marvelous Land of Oz - 9781443420938

Ozma of Oz - 9781443420945

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz - 9781443420952

The Road to Oz - 9781443420969

The Emerald City of Oz - 9781443420976

The Patchwork Girl of Oz - 9781443420983

Tik-Tok of Oz - 9781443420990

The Scarecrow of Oz - 9781443421003

Rinkitink in Oz - 9781443421010

The Lost Princess of Oz - 9781443421027

The Tin Woodman of Oz - 9781443421034

The Magic of Oz - 9781443420839

Glinda of Oz - 9781443421058

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