| Peter | |
|---|---|
 An illustration by John R. Neill in The Gnome King of Oz (1927) | |
|
Real Name |
Peter |
|
First Appearance |
The Gnome King of Oz (1927) |
|
Original Publisher |
Reilly & Lee |
|
Created by |
Ruth Plumly Thompson |
Origin[]
When he was first introduced, Peter was a nine-year-old boy from Philadelphia who traveled to Oz. He was also an avid baseball player; he is the pitcher for his team, and loyalty to his teammates prevents him from seriously considering remaining in Oz after his adventures are done. Peter lives with his grandfather (he may be an orphan), and his grandfather is surprisingly tolerant of his grandson's excursions to fairyland.
Peter was transported by a balloon bird to the Runaway Island, where Ruggedo, the wicked Gnome King has been exiled for five years (see Kabumpo in Oz). A seaquake reveals the sunken pirate ship of Polacky the Plunderer—which contains the magic chest of Soob the Sorcerer. The chest holds several magic treasures, including a magic cloak that is supposed to render the wearer invisible and teleport him anywhere he chooses. But the cloak is torn and does not work. The ship, however, derelict as it is, allows Peter and Ruggedo to drift to the Land of Ev.
Promising to make Peter a general in his army, Ruggedo returns to the Gnome Kingdom and forces the current king, Kaliko, to abdicate in his favor. Ruggedo's plan is to have the cloak mended, then use it to fly to the Emerald City and recover his magic belt, with all its power — but he learns that the tricky repair job can only be done properly by the expert tailors in Patch. With Peter, he makes his way to Patch, where he offers Peter as a slave in return for the repair of the cloak. The Patch ministers accept this offer and the cloak is repaired.
Peter meets Scraps and makes other new friends, including Grumpy the Bear and Ozwold the Ostrich. Together they escape from Patch and set out for the Emerald City in order to warn Ozma about Ruggedo's plans. Meanwhile, using the power of the repaired cloak, Ruggedo becomes invisible and teleports to the Emerald City, where he causes some mischief before Peter arrives. Still invisible, Ruggedo steals the magic belt. He is about to use its powers to teleport Ozma and her friends to the bottom of the ocean, but Peter overcomes him by throwing a "silence stone", one of the treasures he had taken from the sunken pirate ship, at Ruggedo's head, which robs Ruggedo of the power of speech. Since the magic belt only responds to spoken commands, this renders Ruggedo harmless, and the Wizard of Oz makes him visible again. Ozma makes Peter a Prince of Oz, but the boy chooses to return to Philadelphia; he can't let down his team.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Gnome King of Oz (1927)
- Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz (1929)
Notes[]
- Thompson is inconsistent in regard to Peter's age. He is nine in The Gnome King of Oz. Later in Pirates in Oz she states that he is eleven years old, but also indicates that five years have passed since his original Oz experience.
- For his first two appearances, he is simply called Peter, with his surname Brown being revealed in his third.