Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty-looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar—except a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.

When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.

When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now.

When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.

Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.

It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.

Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.

From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction also.

Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.

“There's a cyclone coming, Em,”he called to his wife. “I'll go look after the stock.”Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept.

Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her of the danger close at hand.

“Quick, Dorothy!”she screamed. “Run for the cellar!”

Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him.

Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole.

Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor.

Then a strange thing happened.

The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon.

The north and south winds met where the house stood, and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In the middle of a cyclone the air is generally still, but the great pressure of the wind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather.

It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle.

Toto did not like it. He ran about the room, now here, now there, barking loudly;but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited to see what would happen.

Once Toto got too near the open trap door, and fell in; and at first the little girl thought she had lost him. But soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall.

She crept to the hole, caught Toto by the ear, and dragged him into the room again, afterward closing the trap door so that no more accidents could happen.

Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her.

In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.

多蘿西和亨利叔、埃姆嬸住在堪薩斯州大草原中部。亨利叔是農民，埃姆嬸是他的妻子。因為蓋房的木料要從好多英里外用貨車運過來，所以他們的房子很小，就一間屋子，也就是四面墻、屋頂和地板。屋里有一只銹跡斑斑的做飯爐、一個碗碟櫥、一張桌子、三四把椅子和兩張床。亨利叔和埃姆嬸的大床放在一個角落，多蘿西的小床放在另一個角落。屋里根本沒有閣樓，也沒有地下室——只有地上挖的一個被稱為“防旋風掩體”的小地洞，萬一大旋風刮來，一家人就躲進去。旋風過處，威力無窮，什么建筑都可以刮倒。地板中央有一扇活門，他們從那里順著梯子可以下到那個又小又黑的地洞。

多蘿西站在門口，環顧四周，只見周圍都是灰蒙蒙的大草原。那片寬闊平坦的原野上沒有一棵樹，也沒有一座房子，四面八方都伸向天邊。太陽將那片犁過的土地烤成了一大片灰色，小小的裂縫遍布其間。就連草也不綠了，因為太陽已經把它們長葉的頂部曬焦了，四處看上去也是同樣的灰色。盡管有一次曾油漆過房子，但太陽把油漆都曬起了泡，一場場雨又把它沖得一干二凈，所以現在房子像其他東西一樣陰沉灰暗。

埃姆嬸當初到這里時，是一位年輕漂亮的妻子。太陽和風也已經改變了她的模樣。它們從她的眼睛里奪走了光彩，留下的是一種樸素的灰色；它們從她的臉頰和嘴唇上奪走了紅潤，也都成了灰色。她消瘦憔悴，現在從不微笑。

多蘿西是孤女。她第一次來到埃姆嬸身邊時，埃姆嬸被她的笑聲嚇了一跳，無論多蘿西歡快的聲音什么時候傳到嬸嬸的耳朵里，她都要尖叫，并把手按在心口；她還帶著驚奇望著這個小女孩，因為小女孩對著什么東西都能發笑。

亨利叔從不笑出聲來。他從早到晚辛苦勞動，不知道什么是快樂。他從長胡子到粗糙的靴子也都是灰色的，他顯得嚴肅莊重，很少說話。

讓多蘿西發笑的是透透，周圍其他的一切都漸漸變成了灰色。透透不是灰色，而是一只小黑狗，有著一身柔滑的長毛，一雙小黑眼睛在有趣的小鼻子兩邊快樂地眨動。透透整天玩，多蘿西和它在一起玩，對它一往情深。

然而，他們今天沒有在玩。亨利叔坐在門階上，焦慮不安地望著比平常越發灰暗的天空。多蘿西懷抱著透透站在門口，也望著天空。埃姆嬸正在洗那些碟子。

他們從遙遠的北方聽到了一陣風的低沉呼嘯，而且亨利叔和多蘿西可以看到那里的高草在即將來臨的風暴前波浪般起伏。現在，從南方的空中也傳來了一陣刺耳的嘯聲。隨后，他們將目光轉向那個方向，只見那個方向的草也在波浪般起伏。

亨利叔突然站了起來。

“龍卷風來了，埃姆！”他對妻子喊道，“我要去照看家畜。”說完，他就朝著關牛和馬的牲口棚跑去。

埃姆嬸放下手里的活，來到門口，看了一眼就明白了，危險就在眼前。

“快，多蘿西！”她尖聲喊道，“朝地洞里跑！”

透透從多蘿西的懷里跳出來，躲到了床下。隨后，小女孩跑去逮它。

埃姆嬸大驚失色，打開地板上的門，順著梯子爬到了又小又黑的地洞里。

多蘿西終于逮住了透透，就跟著嬸嬸跑過去。她跑到屋子中央時，傳來了一陣巨大尖利的風聲。接著，房子猛烈搖晃，她突然失足，跌坐在了地板上。

這時，發生了一件怪事。

房子旋轉了兩三次，慢慢地升向空中。多蘿西覺得就像坐在一只氣球里上升著。

南風和北風在房子所在地會合，形成了龍卷風的正中心。在龍卷風的中央，空氣通常是靜止的，但房子四周的強大風力抬起房子，使它越升越高，一直升到了龍卷風的最頂端。房子停留在那里，然后被幾英里幾英里地卷走了。風卷走房子，容易得就像拿一根羽毛似的。

天空很暗，風在她四周可怕地呼嘯，但多蘿西發現她乘坐的房子非常舒適。第一次旋轉了幾圈后，其中有一次房子嚴重傾斜，她仿佛感到自己被輕輕地搖晃著，就像嬰兒躺在搖籃里一般。

透透不喜歡這樣，大聲吠叫，滿屋奔跑，時而跑到這里，時而跑到那里。可是，多蘿西靜靜地坐在地板上，等著看會發生什么事兒。

有一次，透透走近地板上打開的門，掉了進去。起初，小女孩以為她已經失去了它。可是，不久她就看到了它的一只耳朵在洞口豎起，因為強大的空氣壓力托起了它，它才沒能掉下去。

她爬到洞口，抓住透透的耳朵，又把它拽進了屋里，隨后關上門，以免再發生什么意外。

一個又一個小時過去了。慢慢地，多蘿西戰勝了恐懼，但她感覺非常孤單。風在她四周大聲呼嘯，她幾乎變成了聾子。起先，她擔心如果房子掉下去，她是不是會粉身碎骨。可是，幾個小時過去了，沒有發生什么可怕的事兒，她不再擔心，決定冷靜等待，看將來會發生什么。最后，她爬過搖晃的地板，爬到床上，在上面躺下來。透透也跟著在她身邊躺下來。

盡管房子搖晃，風聲呼號，但多蘿西很快閉上眼睛，沉入了夢鄉。