| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: And the Master Mariner of the World did likewise, after which Ak, with
sparkling eyes and smiling face, cried out:
"I thank you, fellow immortals! For all have voted 'yes,' and so to
our dear Claus shall fall the one Mantle of Immortality that it is in
our power to bestow!"
"Let us fetch it at once," said the Fay King; "I'm in a hurry."
They bowed assent, and instantly the Forest glade was deserted. But
in a place midway between the earth and the sky was suspended a
gleaming crypt of gold and platinum, aglow with soft lights shed from
the facets of countless gems. Within a high dome hung the precious
Mantle of Immortality, and each immortal placed a hand on the hem of
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: you go away and leave them, and they will have to take their chance; and if
they do not meet with the usual fate of orphans, there will be small thanks
to you. No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to
persevere to the end in their nurture and education. But you appear to be
choosing the easier part, not the better and manlier, which would have been
more becoming in one who professes to care for virtue in all his actions,
like yourself. And indeed, I am ashamed not only of you, but of us who are
your friends, when I reflect that the whole business will be attributed
entirely to our want of courage. The trial need never have come on, or
might have been managed differently; and this last act, or crowning folly,
will seem to have occurred through our negligence and cowardice, who might
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: What had his intelligence been given him for but to save him?
Mightn't one, to reach his mind, risk the stretch of an angular
arm over his character? It was as if, when we were face
to face in the dining room, he had literally shown me the way.
The roast mutton was on the table, and I had dispensed
with attendance. Miles, before he sat down, stood a moment
with his hands in his pockets and looked at the joint,
on which he seemed on the point of passing some humorous judgment.
But what he presently produced was: "I say, my dear, is she
really very awfully ill?"
"Little Flora? Not so bad but that she'll presently be better.
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