Painterly apple branch bearing a white blossom, pink bud and ripe red apple against pale green.

Original artwork, not a still

Norton Juster

"You see," continued the minister, bowing thankfully to the duke, "Dictionopolis is the place where all the words in the world come from. They're grown right here in our orchards."

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The minister explains that Dictionopolis is where every word in the world originates, and that words are grown in local orchards. The image treats language as a harvested crop, something cultivated and picked, making vocabulary sound tangible, seasonal and pleasantly absurd.

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