Tag, I'm it!

I got tagged by the ever-so-charming Kris Bordessa the other day, and as far as I can tell, the purpose of this tag is as mysterious as some of my children. But I'm game. In fact, I sort of like the idea of performing strange orders for no obvious reason. So here we go:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Okay. I've acknowledged Kris, I've got my book, and here are my sentences:

(from Diana Wynne Jones' The Game)

Flute stood with his arms folded, surrounded in leaping hissing heat. He did not look entirely friendly. "Until this morning," he said, "I had a thousand and one golden apples. Now I've only got a thousand."

But now that I've got your attention (Sheila discreetly coughs), can I post this bit too? It's too funny not to tell someone about. I was so enthralled with it that I even woke Richard up last night, at 11:45pm, to read it to him. To his credit he laughed (rather wanly) and said "that was pretty funny - why are you still reading?"

(from Eva Braunn's Homeric Moments: Clues To Delight In Reading The Odyssey and the Iliad)

There is something to be said for learning Greek quite apart from the reading of authors. My father, a physician who was educated in a German classical gymnasium, cherished the following story: His Greek professor, bidding goodbye to a student being withdrawn by his father for a business apprenticeship, was heard to say sorrowfully: "What a pity he couldn't stay for the irregular verbs! One more month and he have had something to sustain him in life."

How can you not love a book with footnotes like these? Okay, now off with your heads you all - go read something, follow those cryptic directions, then let me know what you've done!