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What does the Wizard of Oz give the Cowardly Lion as a substitute for courage?
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
An illustrated page by W.W. Denslow in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
In L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wizard gives the Cowardly Lion a drink that he claims is courage.1
This act is part of the Wizard's symbolic gestures toward the companions, as he also provides the Scarecrow with bran, pins, and needles to represent brains, and the Tin Woodman with a silk-and-sawdust heart. These gifts underscore the book's underlying message that the characters already possessed the qualities they believed they lacked.1