Oz Wiki
Register
Advertisement

The Purple Prince of Oz is the 26th book in the Oz book series, and the 12th written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was published in 1932.

Based on its copyright, it will enter the public domain in 2028.

Summary[]

Tiring of the oppressive routines of royalty, the king of the Gillkin pocket kingdom of Regalia retires to a cave to become a hermit. His son and heir, Prince Randy, must travel through Oz and beyond to complete the seven arduous tasks a Regalian ruler must complete before ascending the throne.

Dressed as a poor mountain boy, Randy first comes to Pumperdink, where he is brought before the king as a suspected vagabond. Kabumpo takes a liking to him, and makes Randy his attendant. Suddenly the entire royal family of Pumperdink disappears, and Kabumpo and Randy barely escape the same fate. The king's brother Kettywig has conspired with Faleero, the Witch of Follensby Forest, to seize the crown by magic.

A soothsayer advises boy and elephant to seek out the red jinn. No one in Oz has heard of such a person; after much searching and various adventures (mistakenly believing this worthy to live in the red-coded Quadling Country), Randy and Kabumpo reach the red glass castle in the Land of Ev where Jinnicky the Red Jinn resides. Jinnicky proves to be jolly and helpful; the three return to Oz. Randy uses the Jinn's magic looking glasses to find the missing royal family and free them from the witch's spell.

In the end, Randy finds that along the way he has fulfilled the seven requirements of Regalian kingship. In his adventures, he has:

  1. made three true friends
  2. served a strange king
  3. saved a queen
  4. shown bravery in battle
  5. overcome a fabulous monster
  6. disenchanted a princess
  7. and received an important magical treasure from a wizard.

Randy has qualified himself to be king of his homeland.

Background[]

This is the first of Thompson's books to depend wholly on her own characters, to the neglect of L. Frank Baum's - the start of a trend that continues through several more books. Jinnicky the Red Jinn returns after his introduction in Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, though he is a more genial figure in his second appearance. Artist Neill redesigns the Jinn's likeness to be more endearing and less grotesque.

Randy, Kabumpo, and Jinnicky later return to action in The Silver Princess in Oz.

Gallery[]

External links[]

Ruth Plumly Thompson's Oz books
15. The Royal Book of Oz 16. Kabumpo in Oz 17. The Cowardly Lion of Oz 18. Grampa in Oz 19. The Lost King of Oz 20. The Hungry Tiger of Oz 21. The Gnome King of Oz 22. The Giant Horse of Oz 23. Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz 24. The Yellow Knight of Oz 25. Pirates in Oz 26. The Purple Prince of Oz 27. Ojo in Oz 28. Speedy in Oz 29. The Wishing Horse of Oz 30. Captain Salt in Oz 31. Handy Mandy in Oz 32. The Silver Princess in Oz 33. Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
Advertisement