| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: Spiders, so as to judge of the virulence of their venom and its
effect according to the part of the body injured by the fangs. A
dozen bottles and test-tubes received the prisoners, whom I
captured by the methods known to the reader. To one inclined to
scream at the sight of a Spider, my study, filled with odious
Lycosae, would have presented a very uncanny appearance.
Though the Tarantula scorns or rather fears to attack an adversary
placed in her presence in a bottle, she scarcely hesitates to bite
what is thrust beneath her fangs. I take her by the thorax with my
forceps and present to her mouth the animal which I wish stung.
Forthwith, if the Spider be not already tired by experiments, the
The Life of the Spider |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: " To his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor.
"Your Majesty's loyal subject, the widow of Pe-
ter Nikolaevich Sventizky, murdered by the peas-
ants, throws herself at the sacred feet (this
sentence, when he wrote it down, pleased the con-
stable himself most of all) of your Imperial
Majesty, and implores you to grant an amnesty
to the peasants so and so, from such a province,
district, and village, who have been sentenced to
death."
The telegram was sent by the constable him-
The Forged Coupon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: fresh lot," said Sobol, laughing. "It's too bad!"
"I did not ask him to worry himself," said I, almost crying with
excitement. "What's it all for? What's it all for? Well,
supposing I was wrong, supposing I have done wrong, why do they
try to put me more in the wrong?"
"Come, come, come, come!" said Sobol, trying to soothe me. "Come!
I have had a drop, that is why I said it. My tongue is my enemy.
Come," he sighed, "we have eaten and drunk wine, and now for a
nap."
He got up from the table, kissed Ivan Ivanitch on the head, and
staggering from repletion, went out of the dining-room. Ivan
|
