For three days Dorothy heard nothing from Oz. These were sad days for the little girl, although her friends were all quite happy and contented. The Scarecrow told them there were wonderful thoughts in his head; but he would not say what they were because he knew no one could understand them but himself. When the Tin Woodman walked about he felt his heart rattling around in his breast; and he told Dorothy he had discovered it to be a kinder and more tender heart than the one he had owned when he was made of flesh. The Lion declared he was afraid of nothing on earth, and would gladly face an army or a dozen of the fierce Kalidahs. 已经三天了，多萝西却还没有从奥芝那儿得到任何消息。虽然她的同伴们都过得快乐满足，但对这个小女孩来说，这些天实在难熬。稻草人说自己的脑子里充满了奇妙的想法，但却不肯告诉大家，因为他认为除了他自己，没有人能理解这些奇妙的想法。铁皮人走路的时候，能够感受到心脏在胸腔中的跳动。他跟多萝西说，他觉得现在这颗心比他原来肉身时的那个更加善良温柔。狮子宣称，它在这个世界上什么也不怕了。即使有一个军队或者十二个凶狠的克利达，它都会乐意应战的。
Thus each of the little party was satisfied except Dorothy, who longed more than ever to get back to Kansas. 除了多萝西，这一行里其他人都得到自己想要的了，小女孩回家的愿望比以前更强烈了。
On the fourth day, to her great joy, Oz sent for her, and when she entered the Throne Room he greeted her pleasantly: "Sit down, my dear; I think I have found the way to get you out of this country." 第四天，多萝西终于被带去见奥芝，这令她喜出望外。她刚一踏进宫殿，奥芝就十分欢快地说：“亲爱的孩子，坐下吧。我想我知道怎么帮你离开这个国家了。”
"And back to Kansas?" she asked eagerly. “并且，让我回到堪萨斯州？”她急切地问。
"Well, I'm not sure about Kansas," said Oz, "for I haven't the faintest notion which way it lies. But the first thing to do is to cross the desert, and then it should be easy to find your way home." “哦，这个我还不太确定，"奥芝说，“因为我都不知道堪萨斯在哪。不过首先必须穿越沙漠，之后再找回家的路应该就很容易了。”
"How can I cross the desert?" she inquired. “怎么才能穿越沙漠呢？”多萝西问。
"Well, I'll tell you what I think," said the little man. "You see, when I came to this country it was in a balloon. You also came through the air, being carried by a cyclone. So I believe the best way to get across the desert will be through the air. Now, it is quite beyond my powers to make a cyclone; but I've been thinking the matter over, and I believe I can make a balloon." “恩，我告诉你我怎么想的吧，”小老头说，“你知道，我是坐着氢气球来到这个地方的。而你也是从空中被旋风带过来的。所以我认为，要想穿越沙漠，最好也是从空中过去。现在，我虽然没有能力去制造旋风，但是仔细想了想，我相信我有能力制造一个氢气球。”
"How?" asked Dorothy. “怎么做呢？”多萝西问。
"A balloon," said Oz, "is made of silk, which is coated with glue to keep the gas in it. I have plenty of silk in the Palace, so it will be no trouble to make the balloon. But in all this country there is no gas to fill the balloon with, to make it float." 奥芝说：“氢气球是用丝绸做的，里面涂上胶，再充上燃气。在宫殿里，我有很多丝绸，做一个氢气球应该不是什么问题。但是在我国土范围之内，没有能够充到气球的燃气，让它浮起来。”
"If it won't float," remarked Dorothy, "it will be of no use to us." “如果它浮不起来，”多萝西说，“气球对我们就没什么用了。”
"True," answered Oz. "But there is another way to make it float, which is to fill it with hot air. Hot air isn't as good as gas, for if the air should get cold the balloon would come down in the desert, and we should be lost." “确实，”奥芝答道，“但是还有一种方法能让气球浮起来，那就是灌入热气。不过热气没有燃气好，如果里面气体变冷了，气球就会掉在沙漠里，我们就会迷路了。”
"We!" exclaimed the girl. "Are you going with me?" “我们？”小女孩叫道，“你要和我们一起走么？”
"Yes, of course," replied Oz. "I am tired of being such a humbug. If I should go out of this Palace my people would soon discover I am not a Wizard, and then they would be vexed with me for having deceived them. So I have to stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome. I'd much rather go back to Kansas with you and be in a circus again." “当然了，”奥芝答道，“我再也不愿意像现在一样当个骗子了。只要我踏出宫门，我的百姓马上就会发现我不是一个法师。我欺骗了他们，他们一定会加怒与我的。所以，我每天不得不把自己关在这些房间里。我厌倦了这种生活。我宁愿和你回到堪萨斯州去，甚至回到马戏班里也可以。”
"I shall be glad to have your company," said Dorothy. “我很高兴能有你作伴。”多萝西说。
"Thank you," he answered. "Now, if you will help me sew the silk together, we will begin to work on our balloon." “谢谢，”他回答，“现在，如果你能帮我缝好这些丝绸，我们就可以开始做氢气球了。”
So Dorothy took a needle and thread, and as fast as Oz cut the strips of silk into proper shape the girl sewed them neatly together. First there was a strip of light green silk, then a strip of dark green and then a strip of emerald green; for Oz had a fancy to make the balloon in different shades of the color about them. It took three days to sew all the strips together, but when it was finished they had a big bag of green silk more than twenty feet long. 于是多萝西拿来针线。奥芝每次把绸条裁剪成合适的形状，小女孩就把它们整齐地缝在一起。第一条绸子是淡绿色的，然后有一条深绿色的，再下一条是翡翠绿的；奥芝有个新奇的想法，想用深浅不同的绿色绸子来制成这个气球。他们一共花了三天把所有绸条缝到一起，最终完成时，气球看起来就像是一个二十多尺长的绿绸袋。
Then Oz painted it on the inside with a coat of thin glue, to make it airtight, after which he announced that the balloon was ready. 然后，奥芝在气球里面涂了一层胶防止气球漏气，就这样，氢气球做好了。
"But we must have a basket to ride in," he said. So he sent the soldier with the green whiskers for a big clothes basket, which he fastened with many ropes to the bottom of the balloon. “但是我们必须有一个篮子，我们好坐在里面。”他说。于是奥芝派那个绿胡子卫兵拿来一个巨大的布篮子，然后用许多绳子将篮子固定到气球下面。
When it was all ready, Oz sent word to his people that he was going to make a visit to a great brother Wizard who lived in the clouds. The news spread rapidly throughout the city and everyone came to see the wonderful sight. 当所有工作完成之后，奥芝就传话给百姓们，说他要去拜访住在云端的另一个大法师。这个消息很快传遍了全城，大家都赶来看热闹。
Oz ordered the balloon carried out in front of the Palace, and the people gazed upon it with much curiosity. 在全城百姓充满好奇的观望中，奥芝命令手下把氢气球抬到宫殿前。
The Tin Woodman had chopped a big pile of wood, and now he made a fire of it, and Oz held the bottom of the balloon over the fire so that the hot air that arose from it would be caught in the silken bag. Gradually the balloon swelled out and rose into the air, until finally the basket just touched the ground. 铁皮人砍了一大堆木材来生火，而后，奥芝抓住气球底部放到火焰上，这样升起来的热气就充满了气球。气球渐渐地膨胀起来，缓缓升到空中，眼看着篮子马上就要离开地面了。
Then Oz got into the basket and said to all the people in a loud voice: "I am now going away to make a visit. While I am gone the Scarecrow will rule over you. I command you to obey him as you would me." 这时奥芝走进篮子高声对百姓说：“我现在要出去做一次拜访。我不在的时候，将由稻草人领导你们。我命令你们，像服从我一样服从他。”
The balloon was by this time tugging hard at the rope that held it to the ground, for the air within it was hot, and this made it so much lighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard to rise into the sky. 这时候，内部的热气使气球变得比空气还要轻，气球挣扎着要摆脱系在地上的绳子，就要升到空中了。
"Come, Dorothy!" cried the Wizard. "Hurry up, or the balloon will fly away." “快来，多萝西！”大巫师奥芝喊道，“快点，气球快要飞走了。”
"I can't find Toto anywhere," replied Dorothy, who did not wish to leave her little dog behind. Toto had run into the crowd to bark at a kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up and ran towards the balloon. “我到处都找遍了，却找不到托托，”多萝西回答道，她可不想把她的小狗留在这儿。小狗托托其实跑到人群里去追咬小猫了，多萝西最后终于找到了它。她抱起托托跑向氢气球。
She was within a few steps of it, and Oz was holding out his hands to help her into the basket, when, crack! went the ropes, and the balloon rose into the air without her. 眼看还有几步就要到了，就在奥芝正要伸手把多萝西拉进篮子里时，绳子啪的一声断了，氢气球丢下她飞到了空中。
"Come back!" she screamed. "I want to go, too!" “回来！”多萝西叫道，“等等我！”
"I can't come back, my dear," called Oz from the basket. "Good-bye!" “亲爱的，我没法儿回去了，”奥芝从篮子里喊道，“再见！”
"Good-bye!" shouted everyone, and all eyes were turned upward to where the Wizard was riding in the basket, rising every moment farther and farther into the sky. “再见！”大家都喊着，所有人都望着篮子里的大巫师，看他慢慢远去升向天空。
And that was the last any of them ever saw of Oz, the Wonderful Wizard, though he may have reached Omaha safely, and be there now, for all we know. But the people remembered him lovingly, and said to one another: "Oz was always our friend. When he was here he built for us this beautiful Emerald City, and now he is gone he has left the Wise Scarecrow to rule over us." 这是所有人最后一次见到奥芝，那个"神奇的巫师"。据我们所知，他可能已经到达了奥马哈，而且有可能现在还在那儿。但是，他的百姓们却都十分怀念他，彼此说道：“奥芝永远是我们的朋友。他在的时候，为我们建造了这美丽的翡翠城。现在他走了，又留下了聪明的稻草人领导我们。”
Still, for many days they grieved over the loss of the Wonderful Wizard, and would not be comforted. 然而，过了许多天，人们仍然为这个伟大的巫师的离去感到伤心，无法得到慰藉。