| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: NED. [Earnestly.] On my word, Alice, I've been saying nothing to
her.
ALICE HEMINGWAY. [With sudden change of front.] Then you ought
to have been saying something to her.
NED. [Irritably. Getting chair for her, seating her, and seating
himself again.] Look here, Alice, I know your game. You invited
me down here to make a fool of me.
ALICE HEMINGWAY. Nothing of the sort, sir. I asked you down to
meet a sweet and unsullied girl--the sweetest, most innocent and
ingenuous girl in the world.
NED. [Dryly.] That's what you said in your letter.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: original, of which I have attempted only a free translation, can be found
in the curious old book Mushi-Isame ("Insect-Admonitions"); and it assumes
the form of a discourse to a butterfly. But it is really a didactic
allegory,-- suggesting the moral significance of a social rise and fall:--
"Now, under the sun of spring, the winds are gentle, and flowers pinkly
bloom, and grasses are soft, and the hearts of people are glad. Butterflies
everywhere flutter joyously: so many persons now compose Chinese verses and
Japanese verses about butterflies.
"And this season, O Butterfly, is indeed the season of your bright
prosperity: so comely you now are that in the whole world there is nothing
more comely. For that reason all other insects admire and envy you;-- there
Kwaidan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island |
