| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: their stratagem. "Perhaps the flames will set fire to all that
miserable wooden country, and if it does the loss will be very small
and the Gargoyles never will be missed. But come, my children;
let us explore the mountain and discover which way we must go
in order to escape from this cavern, which is getting to be almost
as hot as a bake-oven."
To their disappointment there was within this mountain no regular
flight of steps by means of which they could mount to the earth's
surface. A sort of inclined tunnel led upward for a way, and they
found the floor of it both rough and steep. Then a sudden turn
brought them to a narrow gallery where the buggy could not pass. This
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: the Valley of the Shadow of Death, into which doleful region, at
our present speed, we should plunge much sooner than seemed at
all desirable. In truth, I expected nothing better than to find
myself in the ditch on one side or the Quag on the other; but on
communicating my apprehensions to Mr. Smooth-it-away, he assured
me that the difficulties of this passage, even in its worst
condition, had been vastly exaggerated, and that, in its present
state of improvement, I might consider myself as safe as on any
railroad in Christendom.
Even while we were speaking the train shot into the entrance of
this dreaded Valley. Though I plead guilty to some foolish
Mosses From An Old Manse |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: when I was four, and I lived with my grandfather, who kept a hair-dresser's
shop. I used to spend all my time in the shop under a table dressing my
doll's hair--copying the assistants, I suppose. They were ever so kind to
me. Used to make me little wigs, all colours, the latest fashions and all.
And there I'd sit all day, quiet as quiet--the customers never knew. Only
now and again I'd take my peep from under the table-cloth.
...But one day I managed to get a pair of scissors and--would you believe
it, madam? I cut off all my hair; snipped it off all in bits, like the
little monkey I was. Grandfather was furious! He caught hold of the
tongs--I shall never forget it--grabbed me by the hand and shut my fingers
in them. "That'll teach you!" he said. It was a fearful burn. I've got
|
