Munchkin Mania, Part 1: Size Matters

[vovat]

One word that the Oz books (well, actually the MGM movie, but the word was introduced in the books) made a household term is, of course, "Munchkin." Thanks to the portrayal of these denizens of the eastern part of Oz by the Singer Midgets, it's become largely synonymous with "little person," and sometimes even "child." In role-playing games, it refers to someone playing overly aggressively. And Dunkin' Donuts refers to their donut holes (which aren't ACTUAL donut holes; you'd probably need the Braided Man for that) by that name. The idea of the Munchkins being short did come from the books, but most of them didn't make a big deal about their height. It was more their living in the east and wearing blue that was significant in Munchkin identity. The first three Munchkins we meet in the Oz series are described as "about as tall as Dorothy, who was a well-grown child for her age, although they were, so far as looks go, many years older." But it isn't just the Munchkins who are referred to as short. The Good Witch of the North is the same height as these three men, the Guardian of the Gates is "a little man about the same size as the Munchkins," and the Quadlings are "short and fat." Later, in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, an American boy named Zeb wrestles with a Munchkin champion who only comes up to his shoulder. In The Lost Princess of Oz, however, the Munchkin boy Ojo is described as taller than Button-Bright, an American boy of about the same age. And Dr. Pipt's comment to the Glass Cat that Ojo could grow to be as tall as his uncle (in The Patchwork Girl of Oz) suggests that Unc Nunkie is much taller than the child-sized Munchkins from the first book. Then we have the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, the former of whom is a Munchkin suit of clothes stuffed with straw and the latter a Munchkin whose body parts were gradually replaced with tin, and they're often treated as taller than many other characters. Later authors really don't concentrate on the size of the Munchkins at all. The Ozurians from Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Giant Horse of Oz are "a tall fair haired race of Munchkins," and she also identifies the tall and thin Soldier with the Green Whiskers as having been born in the Munchkin Country. Thanks to the movie, though, the entire eastern quadrant of Oz is identified throughout most of the world with diminutive size. At least they didn't get as raw a deal as the Philistines did.