"The boy read aloud: "Mr. H. M. Woggle-Bug, T. E."
"Dear Me!" ejaculated the Pumpkinhead, staring somewhat intently.
"How very peculiar!" said the Tin Woodman.
Tip's eyes were round and wondering, and the Saw-Horse uttered a sigh and turned away its head.
"Are you really a Woggle-Bug?" enquired the Scarecrow.
"Most certainly, my dear sir!" answered the stranger, briskly. "Is not my name upon the card?"
"It is," said the Scarecrow. "But may I ask what 'H.M.' stands for?"
"'H.M.' means Highly Magnified," returned the Woggle-Bug proudly.
"Oh, I see." the Scarecrow viewed the stranger critically. "And are you, in truth, highly magnified?"
"Sir," said the Woggle-Bug, "I take you for a gentleman of judgement and discernment. Does it not occur to you that I am several thousand times greater than any Woggle-Bug you ever saw before? Therefore it is plainly evident that I am Highly Magnified, and there is no good reason why you should doubt the fact."
"Pardon me," returned the Scarecrow. "My brains are slightly mixed since I was last laundered. Would it be improper for me to ask, also, what the 'T.E.' at the end of your name stands for?"
"Those letters express my degree," answered the Woggle-Bug, with a condescending smile. "To be more explicit, the initials mean that I am Thoroughly Educated."
L. Frank Baum introduced the character of the Woggle-Bug in the second Oz book entitled "The Land of Oz."
For the tag challenge. My tags are "black and white" and "Insect." Since the Woggle-Bug is Thoroughly Educated, I thought it appropriate to picture him surrounded by the Insect section of the public library.
@randystreat@haskar@grammyn Thanks for the comments. You know, Katy, it's the strangest thing. I posted it late at night. The next morning I see that it had been on the Popular page, but it had only 3 views, no comments, and one FAV. Huh? Probably landed on the PP for a minute or two by mistake. Still, thanks. I really like it myself.
