The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: masseur at the bath. Although emaciated, and somewhat advanced in
years, he was a giant in stature, and on his hip he wore a cutlass in
a bronze scabbard. His bushy hair, gathered up and held in place by a
kind of comb, exaggerated the apparent size of his massive head. His
eyes were heavy with sleep, but his white teeth shone, his step was
light on the flagstones, and his body had the suppleness of an ape,
although his countenance was as impassive as that of a mummy.
"Where is he?" demanded the tetrarch of this strange being.
Mannaeus made a movement over his shoulder with his thumb, saying:
"Over there--still there!"
"I thought I heard him cry out."
Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain: other, rigid and motionless, like horsed statues. And
so we remained, in a soundless hush, as much as a full
minute, everybody gazing, nobody stirring. It seemed
as if the king could not take heart to give the signal.
But at last he lifted his hand, the clear note of the
bugle followed, Sir Sagramor's long blade described a
flashing curve in the air, and it was superb to see him
come. I sat still. On he came. I did not move.
People got so excited that they shouted to me:
"Fly, fly! Save thyself! This is murther!"
I never budged so much as an inch till that thunder-
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: The Chair fished again, and once more the familiar words began to
fall from its lips--"'You are far from being a bad man--'"
"Name! name! What's his name?"
"'L. Ingoldsby Sargent.'"
"Five elected! Pile up the Symbols! Go on, go on!"
"'You are far from being a bad--'"
"Name! name!"
"'Nicholas Whitworth.'"
"Hooray! hooray! it's a symbolical day!"
Somebody wailed in, and began to sing this rhyme (leaving out
"it's") to the lovely "Mikado" tune of "When a man's afraid of a
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |