Read "The Giant Horse of Oz" by Ruth Plumly Thompson online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The great silver bells in the sapphire tower had tolled ten. It was / night time, and still Cheeriobed and his councillors had thought of / no plan to appease Quiberon. In gloomy knots the Ozure Islanders / gathered to discuss the almost certain destruction that threatened / their Kingdom. In the castle Toddledy and the King pored over ancient / books and maps trying to devise some way out of their difficulties, but / as Quiberon would allow no one to leave the islands how were they to / search for a mortal maiden?
"And even if we did find one," sighed Cheeriobed wearily, "I would / never turn her over to a monster like that. We who are magically / constructed can be destroyed without pain, but a mortal can be hurt and / no one shall ever suffer to save me or my Kingdom."