She waited, but no other railings came anywhere near. Her plan had failed. Feeling defeated, she trudged back down the mountain and rowed south until she reached the penguins, who were happily doing belly slides on an icy shore. “I might be here awhile,” she admitted to them. “I tried to get off the globe by climbing Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, but I still couldn’t reach high enough to get away.”

“Oh, you never told us you wanted the highest point on Earth!” said a penguin. “Every penguin knows that’s not Mount Everest at all. The highest point on Earth is Mount Chimborazo, in Ecuador.”

“Oh!” said Lenora. “I never knew.” She got out her notebook. M. Everest not the highest point on Earth. Sometimes the thing everyone thinks is wrong.

The penguin waved a flipper northwest. “It’s easy to find, too. The equator runs through Ecuador, which means Mount Chimborazo is exactly halfway between the north and south poles.”

“Why, thank you!” said Lenora, and she wheeled about and set off for Mount Chimborazo. She felt a humming on her badge, and looking down she saw:

LENORA

SECOND ASSISTANT APPRENTICE LIBRARIAN

OFFICIAL COURT LIBRARIAN OF THE KINGDOM OF STARPOINT SEVENTEEN

HONORARY QUEEN OF THE PENGUINS

Second Assistant Apprentice! Her heart swelled with a modest pride.

Soon she arrived on the coast of Ecuador. She gave her little rowboat a pat. “You’re much nicer than that stupid balloon. Goodbye for now, dear rowboat.”

Sad to abandon her trusty rowboat, but knowing she must do her job, she beached her vessel and headed for the highest mountain in sight. And sure enough, standing at the summit, stretching up on her tiptoes, she was just able to snag a railing. She grabbed on with both hands and gave an enormous pull. As she drew herself up, the library righted itself and she flipped onto her feet on the walkway. She had gotten off at a completely different place from where she had gotten on, and it took a bit of hunting and climbing up and down ladders and stairs until she found the Help Desk at last. And there was her patron waiting patiently. She went straight to him.

“I thought I had discovered the place with the longest name,” she admitted, pointing to her notes, “in the fine and beautiful country of Wales. But then I found this much longer name in Thailand. I’ve got more research to do.”

“Thailand?” exclaimed the patron. “Wait a moment … My true love always dreamed of learning to play sepak takraw—it’s like volleyball but played with the feet—and it’s quite popular in Thailand.”

“That does seem like more than a coincidence,” said Lenora, “but one should be careful with assumptions.”