author: John Barth
content: "...It's in words that the magic is\u2014Abracadabra, Open Sesame, and the\
  \ rest\u2014but the real magic words in one story aren't magical in the next. The\
  \ real magic is to understand which words work, and when, and for what; the trick\
  \ is to learn the trick.\n...And those words are made from the letters of our alphabet:\
  \ a couple-dozen squiggles we can draw with the pen. This is the key! And the treasure,\
  \ too, if we can only get our hands on it! It's as if\u2014as if the key to the\
  \ treasure *is* the treasure!"
id: 7b7c3ecb-3712-425c-90a7-d1e81174d79a