Dragon Cauldron

"Indigo: This is my forest, not yours."

"Civet: What do you know? You were raised in a dragon palace under the sea."

"Monkey (narration): …I've always felt the truth was something that should be 'improved' every now and then."

"Monkey: How do you think I've survived so long despite all the pranks I've played? I know when to stop."

"Civet: Dragon and human, skin or scale—all shall bow to his power."

"Civet: I thought I could return to the forest I knew as a girl, but over the years it had been destroyed. I won't let that happen again."

"Monkey: It's an old monkey custom to dip our tail in a river when we've won a great victory."

"Shimmer: This isn't a democracy, I don't fly by majority vote."

"Civet: The past has a way of being more real than the present."

"Monkey: What Shimmer thinks isn't the only standard in this world."

"Thorn: You don't understand. You don't know what it was like living alone in that miserable village."

"Thorn: At first it was because anything--even deserts and monsters--seemed better than Knobby. But then I saw that underneath that tough hide of hers was a gentle person—though she would have growled and thumped her tail and denied everything."

"Monkey: It takes a special person to love a dragon."

"Thorn: I'll show her, I'll prove to her that I'm just as clever as Indigo."

"Shimmer: Whoever came up with this island had an exquisite sense of humor."

"Monkey: You don't go to that sort of trouble just to build a kind of kennel. Just who is imprisoned here?"

"Civet: More and more I think that I saw visions and not nightmares. If so, don't listen to these jabbering fools. The world will depend upon you and you alone."

"The Nameless One: Yes, the Boneless King, a new name for a new age."

"The torturer: You're like all the rest. You look at a few thugs, and you judge all of us the same way. But it's a profession, you see. And there are standards to uphold."

"Civet: Torture?"

"The torturer: Ah, now, you see, that's just the kind of prejudice I have to fight all the time. I'm a facilitator, specializing in information retrieval."

"Thorn: And what's that?"

"Civet: A torturer."

"The torturer: Facilitator, please."

"Civet: You look more used to that apron than a crown."

"The Butcher: It's no secret. When I was young, I made my living by cutting up cattle into steaks. But I learned a thing or two while the soft folk were lolling around in their palaces."

"Civet: How to roll in blood."

"The Butcher: How to get what I want."

"The Boneless King: Fool! Your puny mind could never understand my magic. When I'm done with you, the only thing people will remember about you is the gruesomeness of your death."

"Civet: Remember this when it is your time. We may live our lives as we like; but there will come a day when we are asked to pay the price. I don't know how, but you will have great powers someday. Accept it."

"Civet: I now pay my debt to you and your people."

"The Boneless King: I really must thank you. I haven't had so much fun in a long time."

"Pomfret: You! I thought you were dead."

"Shimmer: Thought or wished?"

"The Snail Woman: No. It couldn't be. I assumed that you had been hanged a long time ago."

"Shimmer: But you know his master, the Old Boy."

"The Snail Woman: True, but I also know this rascal."

"Monkey: Forgive and forget, my lady."

"The Snail Woman: You snuck into our mountain where it floated between the worlds and tried to steal my fan."

"Monkey: I had need, my lady. There was a whole mountain on fire."

"The Snail Woman: That you set flame in the first place."

"The Smith: My grandmother didn't make silly little kitchen pots."

"Thorn (narration): I wanted to say good-bye to her, but the heat was so scorching that no words would come. I could only look at my battered old dragon one last time."

"The Snail Woman: He's not gone. He's in the cauldron now. And with his help we might heal it after all."

"The Boneless King: Shame on you two. It's wicked for a brother and sister to quarrel."