Scarecrow: The Straw Awakens
By: Alice Tibbets
100 years prior to Dorothy’s arrival, the Munchkin population found themselves besieged by flying monkeys. Few people knew about some of the genius qualities of the more reticent Munchkins in Oz. In fact, the reason that many of them were Munchkins to begin with was due to experiments with genetic alteration gone awry. While trying to survive in a four-witch society infested with flying monkeys, the Munchkins discovered that creating smaller versions of themselves helped them hide and stay low-key. They also found that physically altering their vocal mechanisms to give themselves high, unthreatening voices increased their chances of survival. Before their transformation, the Munchkins were simply known as the Kin. After the transformation, it became imperative that they be seen as nonthreatening, simple, and easily-dismissed. They needed a name that was cute, simple, and sounded somewhat like a breakfast cereal. Ever since the Metamorphosis, they were known as the Munchkins. In order to maintain a nonthreatening, easily dismissed identity, the Munchkins used as their public face phony organizations such as the Lullaby League and the Lollipop Guild. This sort of public presentation adequately concealed the radical intelligence working behind the science that gave birth to many fascinating creations.
No one was surprised when some of the leading Munchkin scientists were able to combine hay and straw with a fascinating concoction called the Powder of Life. The straw-and-powder cocktail, mixed with a bit of good old-fashioned recombinant DNA, was a breakthrough discovery. It was only a matter of time until scarecrows could be manufactured, given life, and sent off to stand in specific fields to guard crops grown by Munchkin farmers.
Cuteness was merely a façade of good-hearted non-threatening innocence. Behind the scenes, there were big brains at work in little bodies. When Dorothy arrived 100 years later, the outward appearance of the Munchkins, the happy-go-lucky demeanor, was just a bluff. Underneath the rosy cheeks, childlike hands and curly hair, they were conniving, hyper-intelligent scholars with only their own best interests at heart. At that point, the Scarecrow was over 90 years old, because hay doesn’t decay if it’s kept in a clean, dry environment. And by that point, the munchkins were masters of preservation and mummification. It is just another one of their secrets.
I am writing this anonymously, because I am all too aware of the terrible fate that has befallen others who have crossed the Munchkins. And so I leave this in a place where it can be discovered.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road with caution.