Trot and Cap'n Bill survive Zog's challenges, and the villain is eventually defeated by the forces of good. The two protagonists discover that many sailors thought to have been drowned have actually been captured and enslaved by Zog. Zog and his sea devils capture them and hold them prisoner. They also encounter a villain called Zog the Magician, a monstrous hybrid of man, animal, and fish, one of the very few absolutely irredeemable, pure-evil characters in Baum's writings. They see amazing sights in the land of Queen Aquarine and King Anko (including an octopus who is mortified to learn that he's the symbol of the Standard Oil Company).
So begins their sojourn among the sea fairies. The mermaids explain to Trot, and the distressed Cap'n Bill, that they are benevolent fairies when they offer Trot a chance to pay a visit to their land in mermaid form, Trot is enthusiastic, and Bill is too loyal to let her go off without him. One day, Trot wishes that she could see a mermaid her wish is overheard, and granted the next day. (Cap'n Bill had been Trot's father's skipper, and Charlie Griffiths had been his mate, before the accident that took the older man's leg.) Trot and Cap'n Bill spend many of their days roaming the beaches near home, or rowing and sailing along the coast. Her father is the captain of a sailing schooner, and her constant companion is Cap'n Bill Weedles, a retired sailor with a wooden leg. Mayre Griffiths, nicknamed Trot, or sometimes Tiny Trot, is a little girl who lives on the coast of southern California. Illustration from The Scarecrow of Oz (1915) by John R. Trot, one of the characters in the story.
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