Escapade!
An interactive fiction by Juhana Leinonen (2008) - the Inform 7 source text
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Part Reading
[this is copied almost word-for-word from the Inform manual chapter 16.3]
A thing has some text called printing. The printing of a thing is usually "".
Understand the command "read" as something new. Understand "read [something]" as reading. Reading is an action applying to one thing requiring light.
Check reading (this is the nothing written rule):
if the printing of the noun is "":
say "There's nothing written on [the noun]." instead.
Carry out reading:
say "[printing of the noun][line break]".