| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: burned in the frozen muck. Into this a man's carcass is dumped,
covered over with moss, and left with the assurance that it will
rise on the crack of Doom, wholly and frigidly intact. For those
of little faith, sceptical of material integration on that fateful
day, no fitter country than the Klondike can be recommended to die
in. But it is not to be inferred from this that it is a fit
country for living purposes.
It was very cold without, but it was not over-warm within. The
only article which might be designated furniture was the stove,
and for this the men were frank in displaying their preference.
Upon half of the floor pine boughs had been cast; above this were
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: "Hold him up by the ankles and shake him," said the King; "then
give him a check for forty-two million tumtums and put him to
death. Let a decree issue declaring ingenuity a capital offence."
Two Kings
THE King of Madagao, being engaged in a dispute with the King of
Bornegascar, wrote him as follows:
"Before proceeding further in this matter I demand the recall of
your Minister from my capital."
Greatly enraged by this impossible demand, the King of Bornegascar
replied:
"I shall not recall my Minister. Moreover, if you do not
Fantastic Fables |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: anecdotes of Alderman Plunket's family, of Portsokenward,
and the Miss Timberlakes, the rich heiresses of Crutched-Friars;
but then they relieved their consciences, and averted the
reproaches of their confederates, by canvassing at the next
gossiping convocation everything that had passed, and pulling
the Lambs and their rout all to pieces.
The only one of the family that could not be made
fashionable was the retired butcher himself. Honest Lamb, in
spite of the meekness of his name, was a rough, hearty old
fellow, with the voice of a lion, a head of black hair like a
shoe-
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