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14. The Wizard Learns the Magic Word
Now, the Goose was the transformation of old Ruggedo, who was at one
time King of the Nomes, and he was even more angry at Kiki Aru than
were the others who shapes had been changed. The Nome detested
anything in the way of a bird, because birds lay eggs and eggs are
feared by all the Nomes more than anything else in the world. A goose
is a foolish bird, too, and Ruggedo was dreadfully ashamed of the
shape he was forced to wear. And it would make him shudder to reflect
that the Goose might lay an egg!
So the Nome was afraid of himself and afraid of everything around
him. If an egg touched him he could then be destroyed, and almost any
animal he met in the forest might easily conquer him. And that would
be the end of old Ruggedo the Nome.
Aside from these fears, however, he was filled with anger against
Kiki, whom he had meant to trap by cleverly stealing from him the
Magic Word. The boy must have been crazy to spoil everything the way
he did, but Ruggedo knew that the arrival of the Wizard had scared
Kiki, and he was not sorry the boy had transformed the Wizard and
Dorothy and made them helpless.
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