SCHMENDRICK: And the rest you know. We came here seking unicorns and we have possibly found them, at last.

LIR: I used to have a dream, over and over, about standing at my window in the middle of the night and seeing the Bull, the Red Bull -

SCHMENDRICK: Yes. Driving unicorns into the sea. It was no dream. Haggard has them now, drifting in and out on the tide for his delight, all but one. That one is the Lady Amalthea.

LIR: Unicorn, mermaid, sorceress, no name you would give her would surprise or frighten me. I love whom I love.

SCHMENDRICK: Well, that's a very nice sentiment. But when I change her back into her true self -

LIR: I love whom I love.

LADY AMALTHEA: (comes from the front of the party) I heard what you said. I will go no further.

SCHMENDRICK: There's no choice. We have to go on.

LADY AMALTHEA: (to Lir) Don't let him change me. The Red Bull has no care for human beings. We may walk out past him and get away.

SCHMENDRICK: If we do that, all the unicorns in the world will remain prisoner forever except one, and she will grow old and die.

LADY AMALTHEA: (to Lir) Everything dies. I want to die when you die. I'm no unicorn, no magical creature! I'm human, and I love you. Don't let him! Lir, I will not love you when I am a unicorn.

LIR: Amalthea, don't.

SCHMENDRICK: Then let the quest end here. I don't think I could changer her back even if you wished it. Marry the prince and live happily ever after.

LADY AMALTHEA: Yes. That is my wish.

LIR: No. Lady, I am a hero, and heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned. Unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story. (they walk ahead)

MOLLY GRUE: (to Schmendrick) But what if there isn't a happy ending at all?

SCHMENDRICK: There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.

MOLLY GRUE: Schmendrick, let her stay the way she is. Let her be.

SCHMENDRICK: That's not in the story. Lir knows that, and so does she.

MOLLY GRUE: You don't care! You don't care what happens to her, or the others, just so you become a real magician at last. You don't care!

SCHMENDRICK: I wish I didn't! I wish to God I didn't care about anything but my magic! But I do! I do!