Bastinda

I was looking for a photo of the Wicked Witch of the West (don't ask...) and ran across the name "Bastinda". Curious, of course, I googled it, and found that it is a character from the Russian book The Wizard of the Emerald City (1939). It is a loose translation of the original Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Some characters are different and parts of the story are redone.

Baum's estate never saw a penny in royalties from this blatant copy, even though it soared in popularity in the 1960s. There were a number of sequels, included The Seven Underground Kings. Wonder what that one is a loose translation of...

The looseness here is not in the translation, but in the very idea that a Russian author (and I use that term rather flippantly) was able to rewrite a classic with no repercussions. I was just shocked, and wanted you to be shocked, too.