| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: disappeared; its ears became long, longer, silky, golden; its nose
became very red; its eyes became very twinkling; in three seconds
the dog was gone, and before Gluck stood his old acquaintance, the
King of the Golden River.
"Thank you," said the monarch. "But don't be frightened;
it's all right"--for Gluck showed manifest symptoms of
consternation at this unlooked-for reply to his last observation.
"Why didn't you come before," continued the dwarf, "instead of
sending me those rascally brothers of yours, for me to have the
trouble of turning into stones? Very hard stones they make, too."
"O dear me!" said Gluck, "have you really been so cruel?"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: In sacrificing all to my son I forget to think of joys of which I am
and ever must be ignorant. Yes, hope has flown, I now fear everything;
no doubt I should repulse the truest sentiment, the purest and most
veritable love, in memory of the deceptions and the miseries of my
life. It is all horrible, is it not? and yet, what I have told you is
the history of many women."
The last few words were said in a tone of easy pleasantry which
recalled the presence of the woman of the world. D'Arthez was
dumbfounded. In his eyes convicts sent to the galleys for murder, or
aggravated robbery, or for putting a wrong name to checks, were saints
compared to the men and women of society. This atrocious elegy, forged
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: again under better conditions. Indeed, fresh rumblings were heard
from the mountain, accompanied by heavy clouds and wavering
glimmerings of light at night. Folk began to realize that the Great
Eyrie was a serious and perhaps imminent source of danger. Yes, the
entire country lay under the threat of some seismic or volcanic
disaster.
During the first days of April of that year, these more or less vague
apprehensions turned to actual panic. The newspapers gave prompt echo
to the public terror. The entire district between the mountains and
Morganton was sure that an eruption was at hand.
The night of the fourth of April, the good folk of Pleasant Garden
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