John Dough and the Cherub
L. Frank Baum
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
An evil Arabian sorcerer loans a golden flask full of the Great Elixir - a magic liquid that endows a person with pronounced health, strength, and longevity - to a colorblind baker's wife to stop it falling into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, the woman mixes up the Elixir with her rheumatism medicine, which, through even more misunderstanding, then ends up being used in batch of gingerbread. Out of this dough comes John Dough, a six-foot novelty gingerbread man who promptly comes to life and runs away, in an echo of an old nursery rhyme. Pursued by the evil sorcerer, who wants to eat him to gain the power of immortality, and children, who want to eat him because he's made of cake, John Dough and his sidekick the Cherub flee through a variety of strange fantasy lands and bizarre scenarios, including an encounter with "The King of Fairy Beavers," an animated Wooden Indian, a girl executioner who never gets to kill anybody and weeps over the fact, a two-legged talking horse that bullies its rider, and the youthful and tyrannical "Kinglet" of Phreex. Will John Dough escape those who want him eaten?
Though the novel (published in 1906) is not considered part of the Oz canon, its main characters make cameo appearances in The Road to Oz (1909). - Summary by Mary Kay, E. Toland and Wikipedia (4 hr 27 min)
Chapters
The Great Elixir | 12:15 | Read by Beth Thomas (1974-2020) |
The Two Flasks | 3:50 | Read by Rob Smith |
The Gingerbread Man | 8:35 | Read by Rob Smith |
John Dough Begins his Adventures | 14:22 | Read by Beth Thomas (1974-2020) |
Chick, the Cherub | 51:40 | Read by Leslie Howard |
The Freaks of Phreex | 16:52 | Read by Lynne T |
The Lady Executioner | 13:12 | Read by Rob Smith |
The Palace of Romance | 12:34 | Read by Rob Smith |
The Silver Pig | 5:10 | Read by Rob Smith |
Pittypat and the Mifkets | 17:40 | Read by Mark Nelson |
The Island Princess | 11:14 | Read by Diana Schmidt |
Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear | 13:11 | Read by Mark Nelson |
Black Ooboo | 16:43 | Read by Mark Nelson |
Under Land and Water | 12:15 | Read by Mark Nelson |
The Fairy Beavers | 18:53 | Read by Kalynda |
The Flight of the Flamingoes | 10:25 | Read by Mark Nelson |
Sport of Pirate Island | 9:42 | Read by Joseph Tabler |
Hiland and Loland | 13:31 | Read by Mark Nelson |
King Dough and his Court | 5:27 | Read by Rob Smith |
Reviews
John dough and the cherub
ozpianist
Delightful charming little story
it was great
Melody Fell
a fantastic tale by the Writer of the wizard of oz. the main Character was named in the road to oz at ozmas birthday party
rew
Rick Wagler
I really like Baum and the readers did very well
Didn’t like it
Bung
The reading is good.