| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: sought and found a strong, stout, sharp pick, which she handed to
him. He pounded, and hammered and struck and dug,
notwithstanding the pain it caused him, until he could get out
comfortably. Now he is greatly relieved and glad, you may be
sure, to be out Of prison and to get away from the place where he
has been so long confined. Now he is at large in the open air.
You may be sure that he would not go back again, were some one to
gather in a pile and give to him all the gold there is scattered
in the world.
(Vv. 6657-6728.) Behold Lancelot now released, but so feeble
that he staggered from his weakness and disability. Gently,
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: on. 'Swear to me before God that there is no one in there; I will
believe you--I will never open that door.'
"Madame de Merret took up the crucifix and said, 'I swear it.'
" 'Louder,' said her husband; 'and repeat: "I swear before God that
there is nobody in that closet." ' She repeated the words without
flinching.
" 'That will do,' said Monsieur de Merret coldly. After a moment's
silence: 'You have there a fine piece of work which I never saw
before,' said he, examining the crucifix of ebony and silver, very
artistically wrought.
" 'I found it at Duvivier's; last year when that troop of Spanish
La Grande Breteche |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: like this, why, I haven't stood upon one leg for five-and-twenty
year."
All his listeners knew that when he alluded to his foot-lathe in
these enigmatic terms, the speaker meant to be impressive; and
Creedle chimed in with, "Ah, young women do wax wanton in these
days! Why couldn't she ha' bode with her father, and been
faithful?" Poor Creedle was thinking of his old employer.
"But this deceiving of folks is nothing unusual in matrimony,"
said Farmer Bawtree. "I knowed a man and wife--faith, I don't
mind owning, as there's no strangers here, that the pair were my
own relations--they'd be at it that hot one hour that you'd hear
The Woodlanders |
