Glinda of Oz: Baum's Last Contribution to the Wonderful Oz Series (Timeless Classic Books)

The Scarecrow Of Oz is also one of the several Baum - composed Oz titles that concerns itself with witches. One of the book's three main antagonists, Blinkie, who, like the Wicked Witch in the first book, has but a single good eye, is a traditional European folklore witch: she is old, wrinkled, eccentric, power hungry, toadying, and spiteful. Interestingly, as in medieval drawings, Blinkie and her fellow witches ride their broomsticks with the brush portion forward. Baum even raises the possibility of witch burning, though, as bad luck may have it, it is the easily consumed Scarecrow and not Blinkie that is eventually tied to a stake and threatened with fire. Baum counters Blinkie with Gibson Girl look - alike sorceress Glinda the Good, who, the opposite of the witch in every way, is lovingly described: "No one knows her age, but all can see who beautiful and stately she is...her hair is like red gold and finer than the finest silken strands. Her eyes are blue as the sky and always frank and smiling. Her cheeks are the envy of peach-blows and her mouth is enticing as a rosebud. Glinda is tall and wears splendid gowns that trail behind her as she walks. She wears no jewels, for her beauty would shame them."