Shaggy Man facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Shaggy Man |
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| Oz character | |
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| First appearance | The Road to Oz (1909) |
| Created by | L. Frank Baum |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Shaggy |
| Aliases | Shagrick Mann |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | male |
| Occupation | wireless telegraph operator |
| Title | Governor of the Royal Storehouses |
| Family | Brother, sometimes known as "Ugly One" or "Wiggy" |
| Nationality | United States |
The Shaggy Man is a kind and friendly character from the famous Oz books by L. Frank Baum. He first appeared in the book The Road to Oz in 1909.
He is an older man who travels a lot and wears old, shaggy clothes. He believes that love is the most important thing in life, not money or fancy things. His most special item is a magical object called the Love Magnet. In America, his unique way of life wasn't always understood. But in the magical Land of Oz, he was welcomed and respected. Princess Ozma even gave him beautiful new clothes, but they were still shaggy, just like his old ones!
Contents
The Shaggy Man's Adventures
Meeting Dorothy and the Love Magnet
One day in August, the Shaggy Man arrived at Dorothy Gale's home in Kansas. He asked Dorothy for directions to a town called Butterfield. He wanted to avoid it because someone there owed him a small amount of money. He believed that "Money...makes people proud and haughty," and he didn't want to be like that.
Dorothy agreed to show him the way. But soon, they got lost in a mysterious fairyland. The Shaggy Man then told Dorothy about his amazing Love Magnet. This special item made everyone he met love him! He said he got it from a person in the Hawaiian Islands.
Journey to the Land of Oz
Dorothy and the Shaggy Man soon realized they were in a magical land. After many exciting adventures, they reached the Deadly Desert. The Shaggy Man was clever and helped them cross the dangerous sands safely.
When they finally arrived in the Land of Oz, they learned their journey was planned. Dorothy was invited to a birthday party for Princess Ozma. The Shaggy Man was amazed by how beautiful Oz was. He decided he wanted to live there forever.
Princess Ozma asked him about the Love Magnet. He honestly told her he had found it in Butterfield. Even though he found it, he was happy it led him to Oz with Dorothy. To be a good citizen of Oz, he agreed to Ozma's idea. The Love Magnet was given to the Emerald City and hung over its gates for everyone to see.
More Adventures in Oz
The Shaggy Man continued to have many adventures in Oz. In The Patchwork Girl of Oz, he arrived just in time to save Ojo and his friends. They were being attacked by hungry plants along a yellow brick road in the Munchkin Country.
In Tik-Tok of Oz, it was discovered that the Shaggy Man had a brother who had been missing for a long time. His brother was being held prisoner by the Nome King. A big part of this book is about the Shaggy Man and his friends trying to rescue and free his brother from the Nome King's magic.
The Shaggy Man even thought about leaving Oz to stay with his brother. But Princess Ozma didn't want to lose him. So, she allowed his brother and their other friends to come and live in Oz too. The Shaggy Man's brother is never given a name in the books, just like the Shaggy Man himself.
In The Shaggy Man of Oz, the Love Magnet breaks. The Shaggy Man has to go on a journey to find the person who created the magnet, named Conjo. He needs Conjo to fix his special magnet.
In a more recent Oz book, Queen Ann in Oz (1993), the authors gave the Shaggy Man a full name: Shagrick Mann.
The Shaggy Man in Other Stories
Even though L. Frank Baum used the Shaggy Man a lot in his books, he didn't appear much in movies or plays made by others.
- In 1913, an actor named Frank F. Moore played the Shaggy Man in a play called The Tik-Tok Man of Oz.
- In comics, the Shaggy Man appeared briefly in Eric Shanower's The Ice King of Oz and in issue #19 of Oz.
- The Shaggy Man also made a short appearance in the movie Return to Oz. You can see him in the background during Princess Ozma's coronation.
