“This is the Sea of Peripeteia where swims the fish that
swallowed and spat out Jonah. This is the island of Oceanic Flight 815;
the impossible happens here. This is the tower from which Tattoo shouts,
“de plane, boss, de plane!” Here runs the brook from which a shepherd boy
fished five smooth stones. In it glides the crocodile who carries the Clock of Time. This is where Long John buried the treasure but “X” does not mark the spot. The coffee is purple and made from grapes; Frodo and Samwise are swinging their cups. That beam of light is from a star; Magi imagine magic. This is that place where dogs can talk but Charley speaks with a lisp: “Thteinbeck.” This is the room where Mork calls Orson. Welcome to Wizard Academy, a school for the imaginative, the courageous and the ambitious.”
Imagination. Courage. Ambition.
Identity. Purpose. Adventure.
Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh.
Lion. Scarecrow. Tin Man.
Protons. Neutrons. Electrons.
Huey. Dewey. Louie.
Larry. Curly. Moe.
“Are you thinking that caffeine is odorless? Ask a dog.
Be warned, however, that the dogs here speak only Portuguese.”
– Mark Helprin,
Memoir From Antproof Case, p.9