Queen Zixi of Ix

1905, 1971 Dover edition
L. Frank Baum
Illustrated by Frederick Richardson
Queen Zixi of Ix, or The Story of the Magic Cloak
Original price $2.50, purchase price unknown
Paperback with stains
B

Despite the title, we don't get to Zixi or Ix till about 100 pages in.  Most of the story is set in Noland, a rather Erewhonian name for a country.  A peasant boy and girl find themselves royalty through a quirk of law.  And, although it's not remarked on in the text, they quickly assume aristocratic attitudes.  It really struck me on this reading how they and Zixi bully people, like threatening Dame Dingle for not knowing that the cloak she cut up for patchwork is magic.  And, until Bud's sister Fluff tells him he has to pay for all the good things in their new royal life by performing his duties as king, such as settling disputes, he acts like a shiftless nobleman.  I do like the twist on Solomon, where the woman who best knows how to milk a cow is actually the neighbor.  (Bud doesn't suggest cutting the cow in half, although that might've been a better solution.)

The real title character is the cloak, which grants one wish to each wearer, as long as it isn't stolen.  When Zixi hears about it, she wants to wear it so she can wish that her mirror image would reflect the illusion of youth and beauty that everyone else sees when they look at her.  Baum doesn't make her clearly good or bad, and I like that complexity.  Even the "mean aunt," Rivette, becomes kind and brave, once she's got money and a pair of wings.

The illustrations by Richardson aren't good as I remember, with the faces sometimes looking a bit bland, and too many of the characters being blond(e), even when the text doesn't support this.  I do like what he did with Ruffles the dog, and the design of the clothes, especially Zixi's, remain gorgeous.

There will be some crossovers with the Oz books later, but this has a more old-fashioned feel to it than Oz, as a land of fairies and ferries.  Ix and Noland have a strolling minstrel, while Oz has a walking phonograph.  It's probably the best of Baum's non-Oz books (depending on how you count the "Trot" books), but only as good as his average Oz story.

In 1914, Baum's film company made The Magic Cloak of Oz, which I've so far watched the first six minutes of on Youtube.  It's OK but not riveting, or Rivetting.