| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: This hedge was nearly a quarter of a mile long, but I had to look very hard
to see it at all. The little trees were insignificant against the grass.
It seemed as if the grass were about to run over them, and over the plum-patch
behind the sod chicken-house.
As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water
is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour
of winestains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up.
And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow,
to be running.
I had almost forgotten that I had a grandmother, when she came out,
her sunbonnet on her head, a grain-sack in her hand, and asked me if I
My Antonia |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: less surprised by the art with which she had uttered her feelings in verse,
than delighted by the assurance which the verses conveyed. He was now
certain that in all this world he could not hope to meet, much less to win,
a girl more beautiful and witty than this rustic maid before him; and a
voice in his heart seemed to cry out urgently, "Take the luck that the gods
have put in your way!" In short he was bewitched -- bewitched to such a
degree that, without further preliminary, he asked the old people to give
him their daughter in marriage,-- telling them, at the same time, his name
and lineage, and his rank in the train of the Lord of Noto.
They bowed down before him, with many exclamations of grateful
astonishment. But, after some moments of apparent hesitation, the father
Kwaidan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: am very rich and powerful; for there is no landholder whose lands
touch mine in any direction who ever transgresses my command and
who does not do my pleasure. I have no neighbour who does not
fear me, however proud and bold he may be. But I greatly desire
to be your confidant and friend from this time on." Erec
replies: "I, too, can boast that I am a noble man. My name is
Erec, son of King Lac. My father is king of Farther Wales, and
has many a rich city, fine hall, and strong town; no king or
emperor has more than he, save only King Arthur. Him, of course,
I except; for with him none can compare." Guivret is greatly
astonished at this, and says: "Sire, a great marvel is this I
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