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49 Fairy-Tale Logic Fairy tales are full of impossible tasks: Gather the chin hairs from a man-eating goat, Or cross a sulfuric lake in a leaky boat, Select the prince from a row of identical masks, Tiptoe up to a dragon where it basks And snatch its bone; count dust specks, mote by mote, Or learn a phone directory by rote. Always it’s impossible what someone asks— You have to fight magic with magic. You have to believe That you have something impossible up your sleeve— The language of snakes, perhaps; an invisible cloak, An army of ants at your beck, or a lethal joke, The will to do whatever must be done: Marry a monster. Hand over your firstborn son. ...

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