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“As soon as the meeting was adjourned, Piper sprang eagerly from her seat and went over to look at the netsuke. Minute scales were precisely carved into a tiny coiled snake. Every whisker appeared on a sleeping calico. A writhing dragon licked flames with his jagged tongue. But the netsuke that fascinated Piper the most was a monkey perched on a rock as it wrestled and held down the tentacles of a small octopus. The hairs of the monkey and the expression on its face were equally detailed. Even the tiny suction cups on the octopus's tentacles could be seen. "That's one of my favorites." Piper looked up to see Cryder standing there. "In the Japanese legend," he continued, "the octopus was a physician to the Dragon King of the Sea and prescribed a monkey's liver to heal the king's daughter. But the smart little monkey evaded capture.” — Mary Jane Clark