| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: the flush in the face of the bridegroom when he kisses the lips of
the bride. But the thorn had not yet reached her heart, so the
rose's heart remained white, for only a Nightingale's heart's-blood
can crimson the heart of a rose.
And the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the
thorn. "Press closer, little Nightingale," cried the Tree, "or the
Day will come before the rose is finished."
So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn
touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her.
Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song,
for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: about anything.' There was a note of simple gratitude in his voice that made
me wish I had given more occasion for it.
I put my hand on his shoulder. `Your mother, you know,
was very much loved by all of us. She was a beautiful girl.'
`Oh, we know!' They both spoke together; seemed a little
surprised that I should think it necessary to mention this.
`Everybody liked her, didn't they? The Harlings and your grandmother,
and all the town people.'
`Sometimes,' I ventured, `it doesn't occur to boys that their mother
was ever young and pretty.'
`Oh, we know!' they said again, warmly. `She's not very old now,'
My Antonia |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: between a court and a garden, lavishing money on it with wild
extravagance and putting the best part of her furniture and du Bruel's
into it. Everything that she thought common or ordinary was sold. To
find anything comparable to her sparkling splendor, you could only
look back to the days when Sophie Arnould, a Guimard, or a Duthe, in
all her glory, squandered the fortunes of princes.
"How far did this sumptuous existence affect du Bruel? It is a
delicate question to ask, and a still more delicate one to answer. A
single incident will suffice to give you an idea of Tullia's
crotchets. Her bed-spread of Brussels lace was worth ten thousand
francs. A famous actress had another like it. As soon as Claudine
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