The heroes decide to go see her after the Wizard fails to carry away Dorothy with him. Even though at first they don’t think about her – for Dorothy it is understandable given that she only heard her name mentioned briefly at the beginning of her adventure. The Scarecrow can’t possibly know her. As for the Lion and the Tin Woodman, it is unknown why they don’t think of her… the Tin Woodman in particular knows very well about the Wicked Witch of the West, and that since the beginning of the adventure. She is probably not the most well-known public figure in Oz at the time… Anyway, it is the soldier with a green beard in the Emerald City that informs them of her existence. He mentions that she can help because she is “the most powerful of all Witches”. He also mentions that she rules over the Quadlings (clearly, she is the queen of the South) and that she lives in a castle built at the edge of the desert (which leads him to assume that she may know a way to cross it). And when asked if Glinda is good, interestingly the soldier doesn’t answer right away, he merely says that the Quadlings “think” she is good, and that she is kind to everyone. So he doesn’t say that she is a Good witch, but that she apparently looks like one (even though we know that she is a Good Witch thanks to the Witch of the North description of her). He also adds that Glinda is a beautiful woman that looks young, but in reality is old if not ancient, and that she merely knows how to “keep young despite the many years she has lived”.
Once they arrive in the Quadling Country, our heroes go to the castle of Glinda, located at the most southern part of the country. Her castle is said to be very beautiful, and guarded by “three young girls in handsome red uniforms trimmed with gold braids”. Glinda herself is found in a big throne room, sitting on a throne of rubies. She is described, as said previously, “both beautiful and young”. Her hair is a rich red in color, falling in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her eyes are blue and kind, and her dress is pure white (because remember, white is the color of the Witches). Glinda is indeed kind and benevolent, making sure that Dorothy’s companions go home, revealing to Dorothy that her shoes are her ticket back (Glinda seems to have the most knowledge about magic, along with the Wicked Witch of the West), and even kissing gently Dorothy upon first meeting her. However, when you look at her dialogue with adult eyes, you realize that Glinda is actually deeply ironic. Snarky one would say nowadays. She keeps making subtle jokes. Speaking of the Scarecrow she says that “It would be a shame to deprive the Emerald City of such a wonderful ruler” and when he asks if he is really wonderful, she says “You are unusual” ; and to the Tin Woodman she says “You are brighter than him (when polished)”. Small jokes that fly over the characters’ heads, but that are certainly not cruel or wicked. But yeah, Glinda apparently always dreamed secretly to be a stand-up comedian Xp
# As for the South in itself… The land of the Quadlings, the red country, the South of Oz. Interestingly, the characters only take three days to arrive there, contrary to the longer travels they previously had (it was probably a way to shorten the book at this point, because this is actually their fourth travel). The soldier mentioned that the road to Glinda is very easy, it is a straight road to the South – but it is “full of dangers to the travelers”, which is the reason why none of the Quadlings ever come to the Emerald City. It is quite weird given that the soldier previously said that he knew what the Quadlings thought of Glinda… maybe people from the Emerald City went to the South? Among these dangers on the road he mentions “wild beasts in the woods” and “a race of queer men who do not like strangers to cross their country”. Of course, we will meet both.
I personally think the land of the South begins at the episode of the “fighting trees”, because previously it was just the Emerald City territory, so I’ll begin here. The first obstacle our heroes meet is a thick wood with “no way around it” because it extends as far as can see, and when they try to enter it the trees actually move their branches – they bend down, twine around them and fling them back, tossing away whenever they try to pass. These are the trees that are remembered in Oz lore as “the fighting trees”. However, the Woodman manages to pass under one after cutting one of its branches – the tree “shakes as if in pain” but it can’t prevent anymore the heroes from passing underneath. Behind these fighting trees, the rest of the forest is actually absolutely normal. As a result they deduce that only the “first row” of trees can bend their branches like that, and that they were given wonderful powers to act as the “policemen” of the forest, keeping strangers out of it.
At the edge of this wood, they find the China Country. (As a small note, many people think that the episode of the China Country was added later, once the book was finished, due to how out of place it seems, and due to a slightly different writing style which really denotes this part). The China Country is a “stretch of country” with a floor as smooth, shining and white as the bottom of a big platter, and surrounded by a high wall of white china, smooth and higher than the heroes’ heads. This time the heroes could go around it, but they try not to, out of fear of losing their direction. This country is actually populated by people made of china, or precisely by the china figures used in “our” world as ornaments and decorations – small china houses in the brightest colors, china barns and animals, and even a china church, all populated by milkmaids, shepherdess, princesses, shepherds, princes and clowns. We actually know they are THE china figures we collect because, as a princess explains, whenever one of them leaves China Country, they lose the ability to speak and move and can only “stand around and look pretty”, ending up on mantels and cabinets, paralyzed but apparently alive (yeah, that’s creepy). It also shows that the China Country seems to be an enchanted place (or a cursed one) giving them life. Due to being made of China these people tend to be very fragile, and break easily (this is why they don’t like having non-china beings walk around us, and also probably why the wall was built – there is a strong sense of “secluded and protected communities” in the South of Oz). However they can be mended (there is a “mender’s shop” somewhere in town) but in general they dislike being mended because it is “not pretty”, and apparently being mended too much in the head leaves one “foolish”. We also know that to cross this country, one needs roughly an hour.
Right on the other side of the China Country there is a “disagreeable country” filled with bog and marshes, and covered in a tall grass and thick underbrushes that actually hide muddy holes. Right after this country, solid ground comes back and we enter in another forest – with trees bigger and older than anything our heroes saw previously (which means the Munchkin forest and the Fighting trees one). Our characters think that the forest is gloomy and “wilder than ever”, all except the Lion that absolutely adores this forest, especially the softness of the dried leaves and the “richness and greenness” of the moss – this is the forest he will want to live in. This is actually the forest of the wild beasts the soldier mentioned before, and we see them in the middle of a council, terrified because a monster installed itself in the forest, devouring them. I will jump a bit the animal descriptions, keep them for another talk about animals in Oz, but I will stay a bit on this monster, probably of the same nature as the Kalidahs since animals don’t often refer to other beasts as abominations. This one is said to be a “tremendous monster, like a great spider, with a body as big as an elephant and eight legs as long as tree trunks” (note that while this monster is referred to as the “great spider”, in its description it is always said to be a monster “like” a great spider). Its body is covered in coarse black hair, it has a great mouth with sharp teeth a foot long, but its main weakness is its neck: between its head and its “pudgy” body (it has been noted that the beast feasted on numerous animals ever since its arrival, hence why it may look quite fat), its neck is actually as thin as a “wasp’s waist” and this is how the Lion kills it, but cutting off its head (while it sleeps). We also know that this beast arrived quite recently in the forest, so it is not some sort of ancient evil dwelling there for a long time.
And, next to the forest, is the ultimate obstacle of the South: the hill of the Hammer-Heads. It is a steep hill, covered from top to bottom with hundreds of great pieces of rock, and behind each rock is hidden (or lives) a Hammer-Head, the “queer men” the soldier talked about. The Hammer-Heads are short and stout men, with big heads flat at the top supported by a thick neck full of wrinkles. No female is mentioned and they also lack arms. Their danger is that their neck can stretch out extremely fast, “as quick as lightning” and thus they can throw their heads flat-side first to hit people with a great strength and send them tumbling down the cliff. And they do that with “boisterous laugh” to anyone that tries to cross their hill because, as they say, “this hill belongs to us and we don’t allow anyone to cross it”. They are not even afraid of the Lion’s roar, which says a lot. The characters again don’t want to go around the hill out of fear of losing their way, and only can cross thanks to the Winged Monkeys intervention.
# Now… a big question: what is exactly Quadling Country? This is a big one, especially in this book… In later Oz books, it is considered that each of the four regions make up all of Oz. Aka, everything in the West is Winkie Country, everything in the South is Quadling Country, everything in the East is Munchkin land… However in this book, while at first we believe that the fighting trees, china country and hammer-heads hill are all part of the Quadling Country, Dorothy and the narration keep repeating that the Quadling Country actually begins behind the Hammer-Heads hill, and that everything before that is not Quadling land but… something else. Which is quite interesting, especially when compared to the other regions: as soon as the heroes set out to the West they immediately entered the Winkie lands, and in the East, while the great forest is at first implied to be part of the Munchkin country, at the end of the travel there is a distinction made between the Munchkin land and the forest… So yes, you can either chose to consider that the South Land is indeed all of the South of Oz, but that the Quadlings Country is merely the most southern part where the Quadlings live proper, a region of the South Land, or you can consider the Quadling Country to be the name of all of the South of Oz. Anything is possible.
The Quadling Country proper is described as beautiful, rich and happy, “field upon field of ripening grain, well-paved roads running between, pretty rippling brooks with strong bridges” (note that this is the only country with the mention of bridges, you can find them nowhere else in Oz). The favorite color of the Quadlings is red, and thus the fences, houses, bridges and clothes are all red, “bright against the yellow grain and the green grass”. The Quadlings themselves also appear mostly as farmers. Like the rest of Oz they are described as short and “good-natured”, but they also have a specific trait: they are all “fat” or “chubby”. (This lead to some artists interpreting the Ozian races as all having a different body type, the Munchkins being small, the Quadlings fat, the Winkies muscular, etc… an idea that I personally quite like). There also seems to be an explanation for the Quadlings’ fatness hidden in the text: when they are welcomed inside a Quadling house and share their supper, it is mentioned that the Quadling family serves the protagonists “three kinds of cakes and four kinds of cookies”: it seems that the Quadling diet involves a lot of desserts, candies, treats and other sugary things. No wonder they all end up with some extra-padding on their body...
