The lock on the Book of the Seed would not yield to King Coyote's key or 
to any other key in Princess Nell's possession, and because this book had been 
built atom by atom, it was stronger than any mortal substance and could not 
possibly be broken open. Princess Nell did not know what this book was about; 
but the cover bore an inlaid illustration of a striped seed, like the 
apple-sized seed that she had seen used in King Coyote's city to build a 
crystal pavilion, and this foreshadowed the book's purpose clearly enough.