| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: The most powerful Spider in my district, the Black-bellied
Tarantula, will presently give us something to think about, in this
connection. It is not my business to discuss a medical point, I
interest myself especially in matters of instinct; but, as the
poison-fangs play a leading part in the huntress' manoeuvres of
war, I shall speak of their effects by the way. The habits of the
Tarantula, her ambushes, her artifices, her methods of killing her
prey: these constitute my subject. I will preface it with an
account by Leon Dufour, {2} one of those accounts in which I used
to delight and which did much to bring me into closer touch with
the insect. The Wizard of the Landes tells us of the ordinary
The Life of the Spider |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: guarantee--"
Hereupon Gaudissart drew forth his whole string of phrases, and
Monsieur Vernier let him go the length of his tether, listening with
apparent interest which completely deceived him. But after the word
"guarantee" Vernier paid no further attention to our traveller's
rhetoric, and turned over in his mind how to play him some malicious
trick and deliver a land, justly considered half-savage by speculators
unable to get a bite of it, from the inroads of these Parisian
caterpillars.
At the head of an enchanting valley, called the Valley Coquette
because of its windings and the curves which return upon each other at
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Sing!" he shouted. "Answer me. Where are Virginia
and Dr. von Horn?"
"All gonee. Me no know. All gonee. Maybeso allee dead."
"My God!" groaned the stricken man; and then his eyes
again falling upon the silent giant in the doorway,
"Out of my sight," he shrieked. "Out of my sight!
Never let me see you again--and to think that I would
have given my only daughter to a soulless thing like
you. Away! Before I go mad and slay you."
Slowly the color mounted to the neck and face of the giant--
then suddenly it receded, leaving him as ashen as death.
The Monster Men |
