While it was yet early all the city was astir and crowds of
people came from all parts of the Land of Oz to witness the
festivities in honor of their girl Ruler's birthday.
The noted visitors from foreign countries, who had all been
transported to the Emerald City by means of the Magic Belt, were as
much a show to the Ozites as were their own familiar celebrities, and
the streets leading from the royal palace to the jeweled gates were
thronged with men, women, and children to see the procession as it
passed out to the green fields where the ceremonies were to take place.
And what a great procession it was!
First came a thousand young girls--the prettiest in the land--dressed
in white muslin, with green sashes and hair ribbons, bearing green
baskets of red roses. As they walked they scattered these flowers
upon the marble pavements, so that the way was carpeted thick with
roses for the procession to walk upon.
Then came the Rulers of the four Kingdoms of Oz: the Emperor of the
Winkies, the Monarch of the Munchkins, the King of the Quadlings and
the Sovereign of the Gillikins, each wearing a long chain of emeralds
around his neck to show that he was a vassal of the Ruler of the
Emerald City.
Next marched the Emerald City Cornet Band, clothed in green-and-gold
uniforms and playing the "Ozma Two-Step." The Royal Army of Oz
followed, consisting of twenty-seven officers, from the Captain-General
down to the Lieutenants.
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