Beyond the Merry-Go-Round Mountains it is said the Thistle-Eaters and the Herkus live." "What are they like ?" demanded Dorothy.
"No one knows, for no one has ever passed the Merry-Go-Round Mountains," was the reply, "but it is said that the Thistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots and that the Herkus are waited upon by giants whom they have conquered and made their slaves." "Who says all that ?" asked Betsy.
"It is common report," declared the shepherd.

"Everyone believes it." "I don't see how they know," remarked little Trot, "if no one has been there." "Perhaps the birds who fly over that country brought the news," suggested Betsy.
"If you escaped those dangers," continued the shepherd, "you might encounter others still more serious before you came to the next branch of the Winkie River.

It is true that beyond that river there lies a fine country inhabited by good people, and if you reached there, you would have no further trouble.

It is between here and the west branch of the Winkie River that all dangers lie, for that is the unknown territory that is inhabited by terrible, lawless people." "It may be, and it may not be," said the Wizard.

"We shall know when we get there." "Well," persisted the shepherd, "in a fairy country such as ours, every undiscovered place is likely to harbor wicked creatures.