| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: The officers now began to groan and to tremble,
but Files tried to cheer them, saying:
"It may not be a Rak, after all, that we see
approaching us, and you must not forget that we
people of Oogaboo, which is part of the fairyland
of Oz, cannot be killed."
"Nevertheless," said Captain Buttons, "if the
Rak catches us, and chews us up into small pieces,
and swallows us--what will happen then?"
"Then each small piece will still be alive,"
declared Files.
Tik-Tok of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: seen, in the forty-eight hours since the death of the Dowager
Princess. Even the bread, instead of being dotted with red as it
is ordinarily, was dotted with black!
As we were finishing our supper we heard the horns of the priests
and went to see them arrive. Prince Su, and the other male
members of the family, went out to the door to receive them, but
we remained within. They first went to the gallery, then the head
priest came down into the sacrificial hall and made nine
prostrations before the catafalque, without, however, pouring or
offering wine. After each third prostration he stood up and
raised his clasped hands to a level with his eyes. They then
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: while she knitted. I had resumed my seat and kept quiet, for I
mistrusted that old woman. What if she ordered me to depart? She
seemed capable of any outrage. She had snorted once or twice; she
was knitting violently. Suddenly she piped at the young girl in
French a question which I translate colloquially:
"What's your father up to, now?"
The young creature shrugged her shoulders so comprehensively that
her whole body swayed within the loose wrapper; and in that
unexpectedly harsh voice which yet had a seductive quality to the
senses, like certain kinds of natural rough wines one drinks with
pleasure:
'Twixt Land & Sea |
