"After a time," continued Oz, "I tired of that, and became a balloonist." "What is that ?" asked Dorothy.
"A man who goes up in a balloon on circus day, so as to draw a crowd of people together and get them to pay to see the circus," he explained.
"Oh," she said, "I know." "Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so that I couldn't come down again.

It went way up above the clouds, so far that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many miles away.

For a day and a night I traveled through the air, and on the morning of the second day I awoke and found the balloon floating over a strange and beautiful country.
"It came down gradually, and I was not hurt a bit.

But I found myself in the midst of a strange people, who, seeing me come from the clouds, thought I was a great Wizard.

Of course I let them think so, because they were afraid of me, and promised to do anything I wished them to.
"Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them to build this City, and my Palace; and they did it all willingly and well.
Then I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I would call it the Emerald City; and to make the name fit better I put green spectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green." "But isn't everything here green ?" asked Dorothy.
"No more than in any other city," replied Oz; "but when you wear green spectacles, why of course everything you see looks green to you.