| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: human habitation. The black bodies of the trees formed a
straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a
point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead,
as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great
golden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange
constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order
which had a secret and malign significance. The wood on
either side was full of singular noises, among which -- once,
twice, and again -- he distinctly heard whispers in an
unknown tongue.
His neck was in pain and lifting his hand to it found it
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: Night fell, and he was still in this attitude. Roused from his
moodiness by the darkness, he went downstairs, met the old
admiral on the way, looked darkly at him as he bowed, and fled.
He had intended going in to see the ladies, but the sight of
Adelaide's protector froze his heart and dispelled his purpose.
For the hundredth time he wondered what interest could bring this
old prodigal, with his eighty thousand francs a year, to this
fourth story, where he lost about forty francs every evening; and
he thought he could guess what it was.
The next and following days Hippolyte threw himself into his
work, and to try to conquer his passion by the swift rush of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: is more than meat in many an egg-shell; and many a fool tells a
story that joggles a wise man's wits, and many a man dances and
junkets in his fool's paradise till it comes tumbling down about
his ears some day; and there are few men who are like Selim the
Fisherman, who wear the Ring of Wisdom on their finger, and,
alack-a-day! I am not one of them, and that is the end of this
story.
Old Bidpai nodded his head. "Aye, aye," said he, "there is a very
good moral in that story, my friend. It is, as a certain
philosopher said, very true, that there is more in an egg than
the meat. And truly, methinks, there is more in thy story than
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