Ruggedo realized that this time he had been outwitted. He had
thought Kiki would utter the magic word in his presence, and so he
would learn what it was, but the boy had been too shrewd for that.

As the two eagles mounted high into the air and began their flight
across the great Desert that separates the Land of Oz from all the
rest of the world, the Nome said:

"When I was King of the Nomes I had a magic way of working
transformations that I thought was good, but it could not compare with
your secret word. I had to have certain tools and make passes and say
a lot of mystic words before I could transform anybody."

"What became of your magic tools?" inquired Kiki.

"The Oz people took them all away from me--that horrid girl,
Dorothy, and that terrible fairy, Ozma, the Ruler of Oz--at the time
they took away my underground kingdom and kicked me upstairs into the
cold, heartless world."

"Why did you let them do that?" asked the boy.

"Well," said Ruggedo, "I couldn't help it. They rolled eggs at
me--EGGS--dreadful eggs!--and if an egg even touches a Nome, he is
ruined for life."

"Is any kind of an egg dangerous to a Nome?"

"Any kind and every kind. An egg is the only thing I'm afraid of."