John Dough
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| John Dough | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Illustration by John R. Neill from The Road to Oz (1909) | |
| First appearance | John Dough and the Cherub (1906) |
| Created by | L. Frank Baum |
| In-universe information | |
| Nickname | The Gingerbread Man |
| Species | Living Gingerbread Man |
| Gender | male |
| Title | King of Hiland and Loland |
| Occupation | king |
| Nationality | American |
John Dough was a common name for a gingerbread man at the turn of the 20th century, though the best-remembered John Dough is the character created by L. Frank Baum in his 1906 novel, John Dough and the Cherub; the character also makes a cameo appearance in Baum's The Road to Oz.[1] If the fragment known as "An Oz Book" is genuine, Baum may have intended to include John Dough in his fifteenth Oz book had he lived to write it.[citation needed]
Baum's character
John Dough was a life sized gingerbread man baked for a celebration of
John Dough loses his coat-tails to birds but manages to keep his body intact. He ultimately sacrifices his hand to save a dying princess.
At the end of the novel, he is made the King of Hiland and Loland, an island dual country, and Chick becomes his Grand Booleywag, who rules the ruler. John fulfills a prophecy that will end the warring between the kingdoms and establishes the capital city of HiLo. One of the Los bakes him a new hand, and he passes a law against the eating of gingerbread more than two days old.
In The Road to Oz, John Dough, Chick the Cherub, and Para Bruin are seen at Princess Ozma's birthday party.
In the fragmentary "An Oz Book" (Baum Bugle, Christmas 1965), a man named Gipper-Gupper-Gopp claims to have come from Hiland to the outskirts of the Emerald City.
Adaptations
Joseph Schrode played John Dough in The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays. It is unknown who played the role in the lost 1910 film, John Dough and the Cherub.
