The Last Tin Folk of Oz 奧茲國的錫人 オズのブリキ人間

Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman or the Tin Man, is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He first appeared in his 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappeared in many other subsequent Oz books in the series. In late 19th-century America, men made out of various tin pieces were used in advertising and political cartoons. Baum, who was editing a magazine on decorating shop windows when he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was inspired to create the Tin Woodman by a figure he had built out of metal parts for a shop display.

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale befriends the Tin Woodman after she finds him rusted in the forest, as he was caught in rain, and uses his oil can to release him. His name was Nick Chopper and he used to be an ordinary woodman, working in the woods of Oz. He was in love with Nimmie Amee, a servant of the Wicked Witch of the East. The witch did not want them to marry, so she enchanted Nick's axe to cut off his limbs. Each limb had been replaced with a tin equivalent and in the end only tin remained. He follows Dorothy to the Emerald City to get a heart from The Wizard. They are joined on their adventure by the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. The Wizard sends Dorothy and her friends to the Winkie Country to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. The Tin Woodman's axe proves useful in this journey, both for chopping wood to create a bridge or raft as needed, and for chopping the heads off animals that threaten the party. When the Wicked Witch of the West sends the Winged Monkeys after the group, they throw the Tin Woodman from a great height, damaging him badly. Winkie Tinsmiths repair him after the death of the Witch.

His desire for a heart notably contrasts with the Scarecrow's desire for brains, reflecting a common debate between the relative importance of the mind and the emotions. This occasions philosophical debate between the two friends as to why their own choices are superior; neither convinces the other, and Dorothy, listening, is unable to decide which one is right. Symbolically, because they remain with Dorothy throughout her quest, she is provided with both and does not need to select. The Tin Woodman states unequivocally that he has neither heart nor brain, but cares nothing for the loss of his brain. Near the end of the novel, Glinda the Good Witch praises his brain as not quite that of the Scarecrow's.

The Wizard turns out to be a "humbug" and can only provide a placebo heart made of silk and filled with sawdust. This is enough to please the Tin Woodman, who, with or without a heart, is the most tender and emotional of Dorothy's companions (just as the Scarecrow is the wisest and the Cowardly Lion the bravest). When he accidentally crushes an insect, he is grief-stricken and, ironically, claims that he must be careful about such things, while those with hearts do not need such care. This tenderness remains with him throughout the series, as in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, where he refuses to let a butterfly be maimed for the casting of a spell.

When Dorothy returns home to her farm in Kansas, the Tin Woodman returns to the Winkie Country to rule as emperor. Later, he has his subjects construct a palace made entirely of tin — from the architecture all the way down to the flowers in the garden.

A recurring problem for the Tin Woodman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and afterward was his tendency to rust when exposed to rain, tears, or other moisture. For this reason, in The Marvelous Land of Oz, the character has himself nickel-plated before helping his friend the Scarecrow fight to regain his throne in the Emerald City. Even so, the Tin Woodman continues to worry about rusting throughout the Oz series.

The Tin Woodman appeared in most of the Oz books that followed. He is a major character in the comic page Baum wrote with Walt McDougall in 1904-05, Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz. In Ozma of Oz, he commands Princess Ozma's army, and is briefly turned into a tin whistle. In Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, he serves as defense counsel in the trial of Eureka. He affects the plot of a book most notably in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, in which he forbids the young hero from collecting the wing of a butterfly needed for a magical potion because his heart requires him to protect insects from cruelty. Baum also wrote a short book titled The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, part of the Little Wizard Stories of Oz series for younger readers.

In The Tin Woodman of Oz, Nick Chopper finally sets out to find his lost love, Nimmie Amee, but discovers that she has already married Chopfyt, a man constructed partly out of his own dismembered and discarded limbs. For the Tin Woodman, this encounter with his former fiancée is almost as jarring as his experiences being transformed into a tin owl, meeting another tin man named Captain Fyter, and conversing with his ill-tempered original head.

The night wind rustled softly through the tall fields of rust-colored grass that surrounded the abandoned factory at the edge of the kingdom of Oz. For decades the place had been silent, its smokestacks cold, its gears frozen with dust.

But inside, two figures still moved.

They were known—half in legend, half in ridicule—as The Last Tin Folk.

The Milk Keeper and the Axeman

Tilda carried the milk can.

It hung from a chain in her silver-gloved hand, clinking gently with every step. The can was old, dented, and polished so many times it reflected the dim lantern light like a dull moon.

Behind her stood Brann, tall and silent, the great axe resting across his shoulder. His metal face rarely changed expression, but his eyes watched everything.

They had once been servants of the great mechanical city of Gearhaven, a place built by inventors long before the Emerald City rose to power.

Tilda had been the Milk Keeper, tasked with carrying the oil that kept the mechanical citizens alive.

Brann had been the Guardian Axeman, protector of the city’s engines.

But Gearhaven had fallen many years ago.

The inventors vanished.

The machines stopped speaking.

The gears rusted.

Only the two of them remained.

The Oil That Was Not Milk

“Careful,” Brann said quietly as Tilda adjusted her grip on the can.

“It is not milk,” she replied with a small metallic laugh. “You always forget.”

“I remember.”

Inside the can was Heart Oil—a rare liquid that kept their metal joints moving and their clockwork hearts ticking.

Without it, they would freeze like statues.

Every month they walked across the empty plains to refill the can from a hidden reservoir beneath the abandoned factory.

It was the last place in the world where the oil still flowed.

Or so they believed.

A Strange Sound in the Darkness

As they entered the factory hall, something unexpected echoed through the steel corridors.

A clank.

Then another.

Brann’s grip tightened on his axe.

“Tilda,” he whispered.

“Yes?”

“We are not alone.”

For the first time in thirty years, the factory machines were moving.

Far down the corridor, shadows flickered across the rusted walls. A gear turned slowly. A piston hissed.

Then they saw it.

A small figure—no taller than a child—stepped into the light.

Another Tin Person.

Its metal body was older, cracked, its eyes glowing faintly blue.

“You returned,” the small machine said.

Tilda gasped.

“The factory… it still lives?”

The little machine nodded.

“It has been waiting.”

The Secret of Gearhaven

Long ago, the inventors of Gearhaven had hidden a Great Engine beneath the factory.

The engine was not meant to power machines.

It was meant to create life.

When the inventors disappeared, the engine went dormant—waiting for the return of those who still carried Heart Oil.

That meant only one thing.

Tilda looked at the milk can.

Brann slowly lowered his axe.

“You mean… we were never just survivors.”

The little machine’s blue eyes glowed brighter.

“You were the keepers.”

The Choice

The engine beneath the factory could awaken a new generation of Tin Folk.

But it required one thing.

Every drop of Heart Oil.

If they used it, the engine would live again.

But Tilda and Brann would slowly freeze forever.

Tilda stared at the milk can.

Brann watched her quietly.

For the first time in decades, the silent factory hummed with possibility.

“Brann,” she whispered.

“Yes?”

“If we become statues… do you think they will remember us?”

He smiled softly beneath his metal face.

“They will walk because we did.”

Tilda lifted the can.

And together, the last two Tin Folk walked toward the ancient engine.

Far above the abandoned factory, the wind carried the faint sound of gears beginning to turn again.

And in the fields of rust-colored grass, something new was awakening.

Elena Facchin and Michele Nadal are veteran costumers and big names at the Venice Carnevale. In the past, they have wowed crowds with their fairy tale like costumes of Pinochhio and Chim Chim Cheree (Chimney Sweeps from Mary Poppins). This year, they return with the Tin Folk from Oz and the results are pure magic.