I ought to know, because I was alive when Nevercouldnever lived.

Were you alive, then ?" "No," said Trot.
"The pain I had then," remarked Anko, "was caused by a kink in my tail about three hundred feet from the end.

There was an old octopus who did not like me, and so he tied a knot in my tail when I wasn't looking." "What did you do ?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"Well, first I transformed the octopus into a jellyfish, and then I waited for the tide to turn.

When my tail was untied, the pain stopped." "I--I don't understand that," said Trot, somewhat bewildered.
"Thank you, my dear," replied the Sea Serpent in a grateful voice.
"People who are always understood are very common.

You are sure to respect those you can't understand, for you feel that perhaps they know more than you do." "About how long do you happen to be ?" inquired Cap'n Bill.
"When last measured, I was seven thousand four hundred and eighty-two feet, five inches and a quarter.