On a warm and sunny summer's day, a mother and father take their young daughter Dollie on a riverside outing. A gypsy basket peddler happens along, and is angered when the mother refuses to buy his wares. He attacks mother and daughter but is driven off by the father. Later the gypsy sneaks back and kidnaps the girl. A rescue party is organized but the gypsy conceals the child in a 30 gallon barrel which he precariously places on the tail of the wagon. He and his gypsy-wife make their getaway by fording the river with the wagon. The barrel, with Dollie still inside, breaks free, tumbling into into the river; it starts floating toward the peril of a nearby waterfall . . .

Ojo and Unc Nunkie are out of food, so they decide to journey to the Emerald City where they will never starve. Along the way, they meet Mewel, a waif and stray (mule) who leads them to Dr. Pipt, who has been stirring the powder of life for nine years. Ojo adds plenty of brains to Margolotte's Patchwork servant before she is brought to life with the powder. When Scraps does come to life, she accidentally knocks the liquid of petrifaction upon Unc Nunkie, Margolotte, and Danx (daughter Jesseva's boyfriend). So all go on separate journeys to find the ingredients to the antidote. (Of course Jesseva has Danx shrunken to take with her, which causes trouble with Jinjur.) Of course, no one ever told Ojo that some of the ingredients were illegal to obtain...

While caring for his sick daughter, a doctor is called away to the sickbed of a neighbor. He finds the neighbor gravely ill, and ignores his wife's pleas to come home and care for his own daughter, who has taken a turn for the worse.

A sorcerer draws signs on the sand making charming young women.

The story of the defense of the mission-turned-fortress by 185 Texans against an overwhelming Mexican army in 1836.

What is a mosquito's nature? A large man enters his flat; a mosquito in top hat with valise follows, entering through the window above door. The man goes to sleep; the mosquito lands next to him, opens the valise, and takes out a grinding wheel to sharpen his proboscis. Methodically, the mosquito gets one, two, then three drinks as the man tosses, slaps, turns, covers himself, and rubs the wounds. After a fourth drink, the mosquito is so full he can barely right himself. Still he has more. Bloated, he can only hover above the sleeping man's face. Suspense builds: can he launch? He's atop his victim's nose. He jettisons his valise. Will he now be light enough to escape?