Emerald City landscape by Kevenn T. Smith
Wizard of Oz Day
May 17
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
Emerald City
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900.
The story chronicles the adventures of young Dorothy, who lives on a farm in Kansas, after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away by a cyclone to the magical Land of Oz. The novel is one of the best-known stories in American literature and has been widely translated. The Library of Congress has declared it "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale."
Located in the center of the Land of Oz, the Emerald City is the end of the famous yellow brick road, which starts in Munchkin Country. In the center of the Emerald City is the Royal Palace of Oz.
In the first book, the walls are green, but the city itself is not. However, when they enter, everyone in the Emerald City is made to wear green-tinted eyeglasses; this is explained as an effort to protect their eyes from the "brightness and glory" of the city, but in effect makes everything appear green when it is, in fact, "no more green than any other city". This is yet another "humbug" created by the Wizard.
In the later Oz books, Emerald City is described as being built of green glass, emeralds, and other jewels.
In the first book, one scene of the Emerald City is of particular note in the development of Oz: Dorothy sees rows of shops, selling green articles of every variety, and a vendor who sells green lemonade, from whom children bought it with green pennies.
For more about this book series and the author, click the painted quilt of Dorothy walking towards Emerald city by Nedra.
