In L. Frank Baum's "The Dummy That Lived," a mischievous fairy named Tanko-Mankie brings a department store wax mannequin to life simply for fun, abandoning her immediately. Utterly naive and trying to imitate the humans she observed, the living dummy ventures out into the city, leading to a series of confusing and chaotic encounters as she fails to understand basic concepts like eating, money, or social cues, and frightens people when her non-human nature is revealed. After being damaged in an accident and arrested by bewildered police, the fairy ends her brief, strange life just before authorities can fully comprehend the impossible situation, leaving behind only a broken mannequin and a dismissed mystery.

In L. Frank Baum's "The Dummy That Lived," a mischievous fairy named Tanko-Mankie brings a department store wax mannequin to life simply for fun, abandoning her immediately. Utterly naive and trying to imitate the humans she observed, the living dummy...

The Dummy That Lived | Fairy Tales by L. Frank Baum