| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: exactly alike."
"Alas!" exclaimed Jamrach, weeping and bewailing the loss of all
his possessions, paid out in tips and tolls; "I will go back with
you."
"I don't think you will,", said the Ferryman, pushing off; "this
city is situated on the Island of the Unreturning."
The Party Over There
A MAN in a Hurry, whose watch was at his lawyer's, asked a Grave
Person the time of day.
"I heard you ask that Party Over There the same question," said the
Grave Person. "What answer did he give you?"
Fantastic Fables |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: "Well," said she, "he was a man, he was, for all that."
Her words broke the spell. Every one had been too much excited,
too much moved by very various feelings to speak. But now the
lodgers began to look at each other, and then all eyes were
turned at once on Mlle. Michonneau, a thin, shriveled, dead-
alive, mummy-like figure, crouching by the stove; her eyes were
downcast, as if she feared that the green eye-shade could not
shut out the expression of those faces from her. This figure and
the feeling of repulsion she had so long excited were explained
all at once. A smothered murmur filled the room; it was so
unanimous, that it seemed as if the same feeling of loathing had
Father Goriot |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: a comfortable rock, sat down, rolled a cigarette, lighted it, and
began. He spoke in Spanish dialect; I shall preserve the style as
far as translation will permit.
"Many, many years ago, senor, Atahualpa, the Inca, son
of Huayna-Capac, was imprisoned at Cajamarco. Four, five hundred
years ago, it was. By the great Pizarro. And there was gold at
Cuzco, to the south, and Atahualpa, for his ransom, ordered that
this gold be brought to Pizarro.
"Messengers carried the order like the wind, so swift that in
five days the priests of the sun carried their gold from the
temples to save the life of Atahualpa."
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