Boq

Boq
Oz character
Boq with Dorothy, illustration by W. W. Denslow
First appearance	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
Last appearance	Wicked (musical) 2003
Created by	L. Frank Baum
Information
Aliases	Tin Woodman (Wicked musical only)
Species	Munchkin (Human)
Gender	Male
Occupation	Farmer
Nationality	Munchkin

Boq is a minor character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. He becomes a more prominent character in Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which purports to show the lives of some of Baum's characters from another perspective, and more prominent still in the Broadway musical Wicked which is based on Maguire's novel.

In Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Boq is a rich Munchkin man who lives in the eastern quadrant called Munchkin Country in the Land of Oz. He gladly provides shelter for Dorothy and her dog Toto on their first night in Oz while on their journey to the Emerald City. Though the novel initially depicts Dorothy meeting only three local Munchkin men when she first encounters the Good Witch of the North upon her unexpected arrival, she does come across a lavish banquet at Boq's Munchkin mansion while on the Yellow Brick Road (consisting of his family, his closest friends and five fiddlers) celebrating the demise of the Wicked Witch of the East. They welcome Dorothy as a guest of honor and thank her for freeing them. Boq is very impressed when he sees Dorothy is wearing the charmed Silver Shoes the Wicked Witch had owned and even waits upon her himself, offering her fruit, nuts, cakes, pies and several other scrumptious treats. He is also the one who informs her that the favorite color of the Munchkin people is blue, and that only good witches and sorceresses wear white. With the combination of white and faded blue checks in Dorothy's gingham dress, this implies to them that she is a friendly witch, even though Dorothy knows she is just an ordinary little girl from Kansas. After the celebration, Boq gives Dorothy and Toto a comfortable bed to sleep in. In the morning when Dorothy eats a hearty breakfast, Boq admits to Dorothy at the dining table that he has never been to the Emerald City and does not know exactly how far away that it is, for he believes that no one should ever go there unless one has business with the great and powerful Oz.