Teaser Tuesday 22.2.2011

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

The rules are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers
• Share the title and author too so that other Teaser Tuesday participients can add the book on their TBR lists, if they like your teasers!

I'm reading the great Slovenian classic Alamut by Vladimir Bartol. It is a historical novel set in 11th-century Persia and was originally written in 1938 as an allegory to fascism. The novel has been translated into many languages. It has even been inspiration for two video games! It is an adventure story, a love story, and most importantly a story of political extremism, but my teaser is a funny, little snippet from page 24:

On one of the riverside rocks lizards were sunning themselves. Their backs shone like emeralds.
"Look how pretty they are," Miriam said.
"Ugh, I can't stand them. They are vicious."
"Why?"
"They attack girls."
Miriam  and Sara both smiled.
"Who ever gave you that idea, child?"
Halima was afraid that she'd blurted out some inanity again, so she answered carefully.
"My former master told me, 'Watch out for boys! If they jump over the wall and break into the garden, run away from them, because they keep a lizard of a snake under their shirts and they'd let it loose to bite you.'"

I fear the story will soon get much more serious. Too bad I cannot read it in the original language, but the English translation seems to be excellent, very enjoyable to read.