The Magical Mimics in Oz
Jack Snow's first Oz book, featuring shape-shifting villains from Mount Illuso.
Jack Snow's first contribution to the Oz series, The Magical Mimics in Oz, was published in 1946 as the thirty-seventh book. Frank G. Kramer provided the illustrations. This novel, which entered the U.S. public domain after its copyright lapsed, was succeeded by The Shaggy Man of Oz in 1949.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Jack Snow
- Illustrator
- Frank Kramer
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Series
- The Oz Books
- Genre
- Fantasy
- Publisher
- Reilly & Lee
- Published
- 1946
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Princess Ozma and Glinda the Good are set to attend the Grand Council of the fairy queen Lurline, which takes place in the Forest of Burzee once every two centuries. Dorothy Gale is taken aback when Ozma puts her in charge of Oz while they are away, but Ozma points out that Dorothy is a princess of Oz. The story then turns to the wicked Mimics, who dwell in their stronghold at Mount Illuso and constantly change from one disgusting form to another—an ape with an alligator head, a serpent with black butterfly wings, and a toad sporting a hyena's head are just a few examples. Their leaders, King Umb and Queen Ra, hatch a scheme to break Lurline's controlling magic and invade Oz. The shape-shifting rulers and their followers fly to Oz as large black birds and ambush Dorothy and the Wizard. By stepping into their shadows, Ra and Umb assume the forms of Dorothy and the Wizard, leaving the real ones frozen and carried off to Mount Illuso. In their stolen identities, the Mimic royals search Ozma's library for the antidote to Lurline's spell. People grow suspicious, and Toto reveals the impostors, but not before the Mimics find what they seek. Back at Mount Illuso, they summon a huge red spider that weaves a magical web, canceling Lurline's spell and enabling a full-scale attack on Oz. Dorothy and the Wizard are trapped in a cave deep inside the mountain, where a flash of fairy light restores their ability to move. The light comes from a button on the cave wall; pressing it reveals a hidden door and an elevator. The attendant, a living wooden puppet named Hi-Lo, takes them to the mountain's summit. There they find Pineville and meet the fairy Ozana, whom Lurline had assigned to guard the Mimics. Ozana has spent her lonely years cultivating her Story Blossom Garden and crafting wooden puppet people—one of whom, she notes, escaped to the outside world and became Charlie McCarthy. Shocked to learn the Mimics have slipped past her watch, Ozana guides Dorothy and the Wizard back to Oz.
Development
Jack Snow was the fourth official chronicler of Oz, after L. Frank Baum, Ruth Plumly Thompson, and John R. Neill. Snow deliberately avoided using any characters introduced by Thompson or Neill in both his Oz books, aiming to return to Baum's inspiration. Magical Mimics is filled with Baum's characters, often presented in long rosters, leaving little room for original creations. Snow's main original contributions were the Mimic villains, the fairy Ozana, her kitten Felina, and the wooden puppet people called Hi-Los. Before accepting Snow, publisher Reilly & Lee had asked children's writer Mary Dickerson Donahey to write the next Oz book, but she declined, feeling it would be too difficult to keep track of all the characters and plots. Snow drew on several Baum books for inspiration; a talking Toto, for instance, first appeared at the end of Tik-Tok of Oz. The work Snow relied on most heavily was Baum's The Emerald City of Oz. Snow based the Magical Mimics on the Phanfasms in that book, which Baum described as a type of Erb. The Mimics live in Mount Illuso, next to Mount Phantastico, and like the Phanfasms are ugly, malevolent shape-shifters. They can copy human appearance by stepping into a person's shadow, paralyzing the original while leaving them conscious. The Mimics' malice is directed against all that is good and happy, making them a danger to Oz. The fairy queen Lurline foresaw this and placed one of her followers to watch over them. Snow also structured his story like Baum's Emerald City, shifting perspective between good and evil characters.
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