Sibo meets an Ogre

Last night, passing through the dark forest of Linear Algebra, heading towards the land of Nod, I was stopped by a giant ogre. Not knowing what to do, I politely greeted him. "Hullo there. I'm Sibo. What's your name?" "You can just call me Numberone Dee," the ogre replied without a smile. "Pleased to meet you Mr. Numberone Dee. I'm terribly sorry, but I'm late for a date in the land of Nod. Would you kindly let me pass?" I inquired. "No," Numberone said again. There was no hostility in his features, but no kindness either. "PLEASE!!!" I exhorted in an hortatory tone that I hadn't used since I begged the admissions board to let me into college. "PLEASE!! I'll give you a quarter!" "No. To pass, you must solve a riddle. Let A equal the mirror image of the four-by-four identity matrix. What is the Jordan Canonical Fo..." I considered trying to wait until he fell asleep, and then sneak past him, but there wasn't the slightest trace of tiredness in his nature. And Numberone's being greater and stronger than me, I resigned myself to answering Numberone Dee's tedious question. No amount of choler could have helped me in that situation. Not only was I late to the land of Nod; because my commitment there was 8 hours, I was late to my next destination as well, the great Tower of Ballantine. [To Be Continued...]