| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Adieu by Honore de Balzac: from which it had been driven.
"Stephanie!" cried the colonel.
"Oh! it is Philippe," said the poor countess.
She threw herself into the trembling arms that the colonel held out to
her, and the clasp of the lovers frightened the spectators. Stephanie
burst into tears. Suddenly her tears stopped, she stiffened as though
the lightning had touched her, and said in a feeble voice,--
"Adieu, Philippe; I love thee, adieu!"
"Oh! she is dead," cried the colonel, opening his arms.
The old doctor received the inanimate body of his niece, kissed it as
though he were a young man, and carrying it aside, sat down with it
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Anabasis by Xenophon: Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a
pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Anabasis is his story of the march to Persia
to aid Cyrus, who enlisted Greek help to try and
take the throne from Artaxerxes, and the ensuing
return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a
leading role. This occurred between 401 B.C. and
Anabasis |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: "A kind act," replied the Ostrich, "is its own reward; I have eaten
the keys."
The Herdsman and the Lion
A HERDSMAN who had lost a bullock entreated the gods to bring him
the thief, and vowed he would sacrifice a goat to them. Just then
a Lion, his jaws dripping with bullock's blood, approached the
Herdsman.
"I thank you, good deities," said the Herdsman, continuing his
prayer, "for showing me the thief. And now if you will take him
away, I will stand another goat."
The Man and the Viper
Fantastic Fables |
