The Lonesome Duck is a character in The Magic of Oz; he makes brief but gaudy appearances in two of the book's later chapters.
The Lonesome Duck first appears when Cap'n Bill and Trot are trapped on the Magic Isle in the Gillikin Country. He swims "swiftly and gracefully" over to them, astonishing them with his "gorgeously colored plumage". In a brief conversation, the Duck explains why he is lonesome. Though he cannot help free the two protagonists from their entrapment, he makes it slightly easier to bear, by conjuring large magic toadstools for them to sit on. Later, the rescue party searching for Trot and Cap'n Bill almost stumbles over the Lonesome Duck's diamond palace, earning them a stern rebuke from its inhabitant. The text never specifies the Duck's gender; the creature is consistently referred to as "it." Yet the general rule among birds is that the males are gaudier than the females.
Read more about this topic: List Of Oz Characters
Famous quotes containing the words lonesome and/or duck:
“They will visit you at your convenience, whether you are lonesome or not, on rainy days or fair. They propose themselves as either transient acquaintances or permanent friends. They will stay as long as you like, departing or returning as you wish. Their friendship entails no obligation. Best of all, and not always true of our merely human friends, they have Cleopatra’s infinite variety.”
—Clifton Fadiman (b. 1904)
“A man may take care of a furnace for twenty-five years and still forget to duck his head when he starts going down the cellar stairs.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)