As Link lands at the Wind Crest in Lake Hylia, he can see the next dungeon entrance, but it’s inaccessible because it’s surrounded by water. There’s a Minish house and a portal nearby, so Link shrinks down and visits the house’s occupant, who says that the only known visitor to the temple is Elder Librari, who has taken up residence at the town library. This Minish also wants to fuse kinstones, opening a tree in the Western Wood, which Link can investigate for a heart piece.
In the town library, Sturgeon on the second floor says that sometimes the books on a particular shelf, which has a bunch of small footprints around, move on their own. Link heads outside and finds a portal, then comes back in through the Minish door and investigates the bookcase. The Minish there use books as ladders to reach the different shelves, and with a few books checked out, they can’t get to Elder Librari. This seems like really short-sighted design; the purpose of a library having books is so people can read them and maybe even check them out. Anyway, the Minish near the bookshelf’s base encourages Link to ask the librarians about the missing books.
The missing books are very overdue, which at least justifies Link tracking them down to return them. The first one on the list is A Hyrulean Bestiary, checked out by a girl who wanted to learn more about cats because she’d just gotten a pet. Link finds the right house, with a cat and the book on top of the shelf, but with no way to get the book down. (Running into the bookshelf doesn’t work.) The girl is next door, and there’s a Minish-sized bridge between the roofs of the two houses. Link gets some water from the town river and uses it to put out the fire in the second house, climb up the chimney, and climb down the chimney of the girl’s house. The cat is aggressive to Minish Link, heh. Anyway, Link climbs up on top of the bookcase and pushes the book off, then grows back to normal and goes back to claim it.
The next book is Legend of the Picori, checked out by an “absentminded scholar.” Link finds the correct house near where the dog was blocking a stairwell on the west side of the river. The man there, Dr. Left, lost the book; he’s sure it’s around somewhere, but can’t find it. There are three Minish holes in the house: one leading outside, another on the ground, and one inaccessible in the rafters. Using a portal in the carpenters’ house, Link returns to check out the lower hole, where a Minish recounts the steps to a treasure that will let even a Minish push heavy objects – like the cabinets near the upper hole. Link follows the directions to a small cave hidden behind a town fountain, where he finds the Power Bracelets. He goes back to Dr. Left’s house, pushes the cabinets to provide a path to the upper hole, where the Minish take books from Left to read. A Minish is trying to return a book by dropping it, but doesn’t have enough weight to make it all the way; Link needs to double himself up and help out. The book turns out to be the one he needs.
The third and final book is A History of Masks, checked out by the town’s mayor, Hagen. Hagen can’t remember if he checked out the book or not, but suggests asking the masks hanging on his wall. The masks don’t have anything to say, but if Link Pegasus Boots into the wall under them to knock them down, a path to a Minish hole is revealed. Inside the hole, the Minish say Hagen took the book to his lake cabin, but didn’t bring it back. Throughout Hyrule, Link has seen odd doors he couldn’t do anything with; now, with the Mole Mitts, he can tear open the doors to dig through tunnels. In addition to getting where he needs to go, this particular tunnel has a spot on the wall Link can fuse Kinstones with; this causes a second Goron to join the tunneling Goron, and together they knock down the wall and move on.
Arriving at the Mayor’s lake house, Link finds the book on top of the fireplace. To get up there, he needs to knock down a tree north of the house, then Gust Jar a lily pad into a Minish entrance, push a cupboard over next to the fireplace, and climb up so he can knock the book onto the floor. When Link brings the book back to the library, Sturgeon comes down to take them to reshelve all the books so Link can finally find Librari. Librari agrees to help Link, although he has a bit of fun dropping him into a cave. After a little exploration and a fight against a couple Scissors Beetles (beetles with detachable pincers), Link claims the Flippers.
Next: Swimming, swimming, swimming, all summer long…
