| The Winged Monkeys | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Unknown |
|
First Appearance |
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) |
|
Original Publisher |
Reilly & Britton |
|
Created by |
L. Frank Baum & W.W. Denslow |
Origin[]
The Winged Monkeys were once a free people, living in the forests of Oz. They were carefree, but rather mischievous. One day the King of the Winged Monkeys, as a prank, tossed a richly dressed man into a river, ruining his costume of silk and velvet. The man, whose name was Quelala, was good natured enough, but his fiancée, a sorceress named Gayelette was furious, and punished the Winged Monkeys by making them the slaves to the Golden Cap she had prepared as a wedding present for her betrothed.
Quelala used the Golden Cap only once, commanding the Winged Monkeys to stay away from Gayelette. Eventually, the cap fell into the hands of the Wicked Witch of the West, who used the Winged Monkeys to conquer the Winkie Country, defeat the Great Oz, and capture Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion, destroying the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman in the process.
After the witch was defeated and melted, Dorothy took the cap and used it. The first time, she commanded the Winged Monkeys to carry her and her companions to the Emerald City. Then she asked them to carry her home to Kansas, but they could not, thus resulting in her wasting the cap's charm. Her third request was to carry her and her friends over the mountain of the Hammer-Heads.
Dorothy finally gave the cap to Glinda, The Good Witch of the South who ordered the monkeys to carry Dorothy's companions back to their homes in Oz, and then to cease to bother people. She then gave them the cap as their own, to free them.
Public Domain Appearances[]
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Notes[]
While the original character who appeared in Oz books published before 1929 is in public domain, the versions of the character used by MGM, Disney, Vertigo Comics, Marvel Comics or post-1929 Oz books are NOT.