Sophia and Grandmother sat down by the shore to discuss the matter further. It was a pretty day, and the sea was running a long, windless swell. It was on days just like this--dog days--that boats went sailing off all by themselves. Large, alien objects made their way in from sea, certain things sank and others rose, milk soured, and dragonflies danced in desperation. Lizards were not afraid. When the moon came up, red spiders mated on uninhabited skerries, where the rock became an unbroken carpet of tiny, ecstatic spiders.

...now and then a giggling trail of mermaids appeared in our wake. We fed them oatmeal.

There's no need to imagine that you're a wondrous beauty, because that's what you are.

Why are you in such a rush?" Sophia asked, and her grandmother answered that it was a good idea to do things before you forgot that they had to be done.

You must go on a long journey before you can really find out how wonderful home is.

I'll have to calm down a bit. Or else I'll burst with happiness

But he thought all the strange words were beautiful, and he had never had a book of his own before.