"This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. 'I never could get the hang of Thursdays."
— Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
And in honour of that I have decided to start a new regular feature of some of my favourite bits of writing. I plan to do this every Thursday (weather permitting and if I can be bothered and if I don't have something more pressing to write) so I have called this marvellous new idea Thursday Extracts. Who'd have thought it?
Actually Thursdays seem to have an effect on writers. Think Thursday Next, Jasper Fforde's intrepid Jurisfiction agent, or G K Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday, not to mention the wonderful Douglas Adams quote up there.
Anyhow. This Thursday's Extract is from T H White's The Sword in the Stone, part of The Once and Future King.
"Have some mustard," said the magician, when they had got to the kidneys. The mustard pot got up and walked over to his plate on thin silver legs that waddled. Then it uncurled its handles and one handle lifted up its lid with exaggerated courtesy while the other helped him to a generous spoonful.
"Oh, I love the mustard pot!" cried the Wart. "Wherever did you get it?"
At this the pot beamed all over its face and began to strut a bit, but Merlyn rapped it on the head with a teaspoon, so that it sat down and shut up at once.
"It's not a bad pot," he said, grudgingly, "Only it is inclined to give itself airs."
From The Sword in the Stone. Part of The Once and Future King.
2 comments:
One of my favourite books as a child. It prompted me to read the next four books, which became more and more depressing until I gave up on the fifth one Merlin. Despite this I have never lost my love for The Sword in the Stone. Have you ever read another of his, The Master? Another childhood favourite of mine.
I know what you mean about the other OAFK books - although I found four a little easier going than two and three.
Never read The Master but I LOVED MIstress Masham's Repose - about the little girl who rescues the Lilliputians that she finds in her Governess's garden (her garden really but the governess is a wicked old bat....)
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