Sir Hokus of Pokes

Infobox character
colour = #FFFF82
colour text =
series = Oz
name = Sir Hokus of Corumbia


caption = Cover of "The Yellow Knight of Oz" featuring Sir Hokus (right) and Speedy
art by John R. Neill.
first = "The Royal Book of Oz" (1921)
last =
creator = Ruth Plumly Thompson
nickname =
alias = Sir Hokus of Pokes; Corum the Yellow Knight
species = human
gender = male
age = unknown
born = unknown, Corumbia, Winkie Country (originally stated to be England, however)
death = probably immortal
occupation = Price of Corumbia and knight errant
title = Yellow Knight of Oz
family =
spouse = Princess Marygolden
children =
relatives =
residence = dual residence in Corumbia, Winkie Country and Emerald City
nationality= Winkie Country, originally stated to be British

Sir Hokus of Pokes is a character in the later Oz books by Ruth Plumly Thompson. He is first introduced in "The Royal Book of Oz". His name is a reference to hocus pocus. He is an elderly knight in the vein of Don Quijote.

After joining Dorothy on an adventure, Sir Hokus returns with her to live at the Palace in the Emerald City. In later books he accompanies the main characters on several quests, and has a particularly significant adventure in "The Yellow Knight of Oz" and marries Princess Marygolden of Corabia. In that book, we learn that his current state is the result of magic of the Sultan of Samandra, a kingdom between Corumbia and Corabia where animals cannot speak. His favorite steed, the Comfortable Camel is immediately stuck dumb upon entering it. At the end of the novel, he becomes the younger Corum, Prince of Corumbia, the Yellow Knight of Oz, struck with the pit of a magic date that turns his silver armor golden and transforms him into a young, blond-haired man. Although Sir Hokus's disenchantment changed his appearance significantly, after his initial identification as Corum, he was referred to as Sir Hokus for the rest of the book. ["The Yellow Knight of Oz", chapter 18] He does, however, receive a new steed, Stampedro, whom Speedy frees from enchantment and who facilitates Hokus's restoration.

In later adventures he tends to be back to his old self, such as in "The Scalawagons of Oz", when he play fights a two-headed Dragonette. Even Thompson showed him as his implicitly old self and referred to him as Sir Hokus in a brief appearance in the Emerald City in "Yankee in Oz" (1972).

Sir Hokus was discovered in the kingdom of Pokes, where he had been snoring for several centuries. Pokes is a small, sleepy (literally) kingdom by the road in Winkie Country, by the Winkie River.

References