Synopsis:

  Whatever happened to Pastoria (Ozma's father), King of Oz in the old days, long before the Wizard came to Oz and erected the Emerald City?

  That question has been asked many times. Long an Oz mystery, this book settles the matter at last. You won't be surprised to learn that the old witch Mombi (first introduced and then rendered powerless in The Marvelous Land of Oz) is involved.

  Long before Mombi was made powerless, she had left the Land of Oz ruler-less after transforming the original royal family of Oz and its King, Pastoria (this included the infant princess Ozma whom she then raised as the young boy Tip). Since then, she has taken up as the cook in King Kinda Jolly's buttony Kingdom of Kimbaloo in the purple Gillikin Country.

  One day, she is presented with a goose to roast – whom she recognizes as Pajuka, Pastoria's former prime minister (prior to being turned into a goose, that is). Although Mombi has forgotten where Pastoria is, she decides to find him and place him on the throne of Oz, thus deposing her enemy, Ozma.

  After abducting a young Gillikin boy named Snip, she sets out on her quest to find Pastoria. Snip manages to outwit Mombi and find Pastoria, who is now a tailor after Mombi condemned him to live (with amnesia!) among the Blanks of Blankenberg, just under the surface of the Gillikin Country.

  Also entangled in Pastoria's history is Humpy, a Hollywood stunt dummy and her Maltese Majesty, the Queen of Catty Corners.

  Once freed of Mombi's enchantment, Pastoria proves to be a delightful old man who has not the slightest desire to despose his daughter Ozma nor to be king of anything! He is perfectly happy with his little tailor shop in the Emerald City with Snip as his assistant.