| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: at a burgher's house. He is a very courteous knight and the
handsomest man I ever saw. Even if I had given you my word and
oath, I could not half tell you how handsome he is." The Count
replies: "I suppose and presume that he is not more handsome than
I am." "Upon my word, sire," the sergeant says, "you are very
handsome and a gentleman. There is not a knight in this country,
a native of this land, whom you do not excel in favour. But I
dare maintain concerning this one that he is fairer than you, if
he were not beaten black and blue beneath his hauberk, and
bruised. In the forest he has been fighting single-handed with
eight knights, and leads away their eight horses. And there
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: being excessively hungry, and raging on that account, the eagerness
to come at the horses had made them senseless of danger, and that
if we had not by the continual fire, and at last by the stratagem
of the train of powder, mastered them, it had been great odds but
that we had been torn to pieces; whereas, had we been content to
have sat still on horseback, and fired as horsemen, they would not
have taken the horses so much for their own, when men were on their
backs, as otherwise; and withal, they told us that at last, if we
had stood altogether, and left our horses, they would have been so
eager to have devoured them, that we might have come off safe,
especially having our firearms in our hands, being so many in
Robinson Crusoe |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: rain; in such weather we could go nowhere, and there was nothing
for us to do but to tell stories and to listen.
"I have lived at Sofino and been farming for a long time," Alehin
began, "ever since I left the University. I am an idle gentleman
by education, a studious person by disposition; but there was a
big debt owing on the estate when I came here, and as my father
was in debt partly because he had spent so much on my education,
I resolved not to go away, but to work till I paid off the debt.
I made up my mind to this and set to work, not, I must confess,
without some repugnance. The land here does not yield much, and
if one is not to farm at a loss one must employ serf labour or
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