| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: of Miss Thorpe were incessantly challenging his notice;
and to her his devoirs were speedily paid, with a mixture
of joy and embarrassment which might have informed Catherine,
had she been more expert in the development of other
people's feelings, and less simply engrossed by her own,
that her brother thought her friend quite as pretty as she
could do herself.
John Thorpe, who in the meantime had been giving
orders about the horses, soon joined them, and from him she
directly received the amends which were her due; for while
he slightly and carelessly touched the hand of Isabella,
Northanger Abbey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: that other scene of the previous week, when I drove her from my
study, and broke the furniture.
"And I recalled the state in which I was then. Not only did I
recall it, but I again entered into the same bestial state. And
suddenly there came to me a desire to act, and all reasoning,
except such as was necessary to action, vanished from my brain,
and I was in the condition of a beast, and of a man under the
influence of physical excitement pending a danger, who acts
imperturbably, without haste, and yet without losing a minute,
pursuing a definite object.
"The first thing that I did was to take off my boots, and now,
The Kreutzer Sonata |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: you will let me take a dozen of your monkeys to the Emerald City, and
keep them until after Ozma's birthday, I'll break the enchantment of
the six Giant Soldiers and return them to their natural forms."
But the Gray Ape shook his head.
"I can't do it," he declared. "The monkeys would be very lonesome
and unhappy in the Emerald City and your people would tease them and
throw stones at them, which would cause them to fight and bite."
"The people won't see them till Ozma's birthday dinner," promised
the Wizard. "I'll make them very small--about four inches high, and
I'll keep them in a pretty cage in my own room, where they will be
safe from harm. I'll feed them the nicest kind of food, train them to
The Magic of Oz |
