| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: III
To meet the case in which the object is to buy a horse already fit for
riding, we will set down certain memoranda,[1] which, if applied
intelligently, may save the purchaser from being cheated.
[1] "Which the purchaser should lay to heart, if he does not wish to
be cheated."
First, then, let there be no mistake about the age. If the horse has
lost his mark teeth,[2] not only will the purchaser's hopes be
blighted, but he may find himself saddled for ever with a sorry
bargain.[3]
[2] Or, "the milk teeth," i.e. is more than five years old. See
On Horsemanship |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Cap'n Bill was cutting from the trees some long stakes, making
them sharp at one end and leaving a crotch at the other end.
These were to bind the logs of his raft together. He had
fashioned several and was just finishing another when the Glass
Cat cried: "Look out! There's a Kalidah coming toward us."
Trot jumped up, greatly frightened, and looked at the terrible
animal as if fascinated by its fierce eyes, for the Kalidah was
looking at her, too, and its look wasn't at all friendly. But
Cap'n Bill called to her: "Wade into the river, Trot, up to your
knees--an' stay there!" and she obeyed him at once. The
sailor-man hobbled forward, the stake in one hand and his axe in
The Magic of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves
and the veining of each leaf -- he saw the very insects upon
them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray
spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted
the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million
blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above
the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies'
wings, the strokes of the water spiders' legs, like oars
which had lifted their boat -- all these made audible
music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the
rush of its body parting the water.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
