"There is but one thing left undone".

  As the Wizard spoke these words he led me to the woman, who sat upon the ground by the stage.  A plate of crumbs and a cup sat beside her on the grass and I realized the Wizard had sent food to her, knowing she would be as hungry as we were but too shy to join us at the table.  The Tin Man had never left her side  but now the Wizard motioned him away and whispered a few words in his still fleshly ear.  The Tin Man now went to the table and sat with the Scarecrow, finally getting his meal.  The Wizard was orchestrating some meeting, I decided.  I was curious about this disguised figure and waited somewhat impatiently now for the revelations the Wizard intended to produce.

"A long time ago", the Wizard began.  "This woman held a treasure.  She had a locket but this was not the treasure.  The treasure was inside the locket."

"What was in the locket?" I asked.

"The key to the treasure, she did not know.  It was the treasure in this locket that made her beautiful, it gave her confidence, it defined her.  As long as she held it, she knew she would be beautiful. But one day, she lost her treasure.  And now, all she wants is for you to give it back."

I shook my head. "I do not know where her treasured locket is.  I only just met her on the road,  I can't be of any help to her."

"The story of her treasure is one of thievery and despair", the Wizard explained. "She had it in her hand one day, a broken chain had occasioned a trip to have it repaired.  It was a long journey to the jeweler, a hot and thirsty trip.  She came upon a clean pool of water by a fresh spring.  Leaning over to have a drink, a face looking back at her startled her and she dropped the locket into the pool."

The woman held her shroud tightly around her and her hands trembled as the wizard spoke out her story.  It was as if each word was a dagger, her shoulders moved convulsively to the sound of his voice.  He gently placed his hand over her hand, the one with whited knuckles that gripped the material over her face and then he continued. He sounded out each word like sustained notes from a cello, a mournful reverberation.

"She reached in over and over and searched for it but it could not be found, the face that had frightened her had disappeared into the swirling water and taken her treasure. She has hidden everything since that time, for fear of what could be taken if it were revealed."

"Then what the peddler said was untrue, I did not take her treasure", I protested.  "Looking into water one would only see..."

A strange thought struck me now.  This woman had followed me here, thinking I had her lost treasure.  But why did she think that?  Impulsively I approached the woman and commanded her to rise to her feet.  I was surprised when she followed my order and stood before me.

"If I have taken something from you, I am sorry". I began.  "If I have buried it in unseen depths, I will help you find it.  We could search for it together.  But if we are to work together, I must see you.  We must know each other."

Trembling fingers grasped the hood of her shroud by the edges and pulled it back letting it fall in ripples of material around her neck.  I looked upon the woman's face but it was not for the first time.  I felt no surprise at all to see myself looking back at me through her eyes.