'If we put the globe in the Library,' he said to the ape, 'then that would mean that even though you are travelling in L-space you would not be taking Mr. Stibbons anywhere outside the Library. I mean, the globe would be inside the library, so even though you'd wind up in the globe, you really wouldn't have travelled very far at all. A few feet, maybe. The globe's only infinite on the inside, after all.'

'Well, Rincewind, I am impressed,' said Ponder, while the Librarian looked perplexed. 'I'd always thought of you as rather stupid, but that was a remarkable piece of verbal reasoning. If we put the globe down right on the Librarian's desk, say, then the whole journey would take place inside the library, right?'

'Exactly,' said Rincewind, who was prepared to overlook 'rather stupid' in view of this unexpected praise.

And it's perfectly safe in the library, after all ...'

'Big thick walls. Very safe place,' Rincewind agreed.

'So, put like that, no harm will come to us,' said Ponder.

'There you go with the "us" again,' said Rincewind, backing away.

'We'll find them and bring them back!' said Ponder. 'How hard can it be?'

'It can be incredibly hard! There's elves there! You know elves! They are dangerous! Drop your guard for a moment and they can control your mind!'

'They chased me through some woods once,' said Ponder. 'They are very frightening. I remember writing that down in my diary.'

'You wrote down in your diary that you were scared?'

Yes. Why not? Don't you?'

'I haven't got a big enough diary. But it makes no sense! There's nothing on the Roundworld that elves would be interested in! They like to have ... slaves. And we've never seen anything evolve that's bright enough to be a slave.'