| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: scene had watched all its incidents with intense interest,
was seen to wend his way with, or rather in the wake of, the
others towards the Town-hall, to hear as soon as possible
the current news of the hour.
This stranger was a very young man, of scarcely twenty-two
or three, with nothing about him that bespoke any great
energy. He evidently had his good reasons for not making
himself known, as he hid his face in a handkerchief of fine
Frisian linen, with which he incessantly wiped his brow or
his burning lips.
With an eye keen as that of a bird of prey, -- with a long
The Black Tulip |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: would be expended in the giving of life seem here to have been diverted to
the evolution of aggressive power, or working-capacity.]
Of the true females,-- the Mothers-Elect,-- there are very few indeed; and
these are treated like queens. So constantly and so reverentially are they
waited upon that they can seldom have any wishes to express. They are
relieved from every care of existence,-- except the duty of bearing
offspring. Night and day they are cared for in every possible manner. They
alone are superabundantly and richly fed:-- for the sake of the offspring
they must eat and drink and repose right royally; and their physiological
specialization allows of such indulgence ad libitum. They seldom go out,
and never unless attended by a powerful escort; as they cannot be permitted
Kwaidan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: one of those women who can't be dismissed at will. And as I shook
my head he insisted rather darkly: 'Oh, yes, Dona Rita, it is so.
Cherish no illusions about that fact.' It sounded so threatening
that in my surprise I didn't even acknowledge his parting bow. He
went out of that false situation like a wounded man retreating
after a fight. No, I have nothing to reproach myself with. I did
nothing. I led him into nothing. Whatever illusions have passed
through my head I kept my distance, and he was so loyal to what he
seemed to think the redeeming proprieties of the situation that he
has gone from me for good without so much as kissing the tips of my
fingers. He must have felt like a man who had betrayed himself for
The Arrow of Gold |
