| 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: story of the visit of Bessie Blithesome.
"And now tell me," said he, "shall I give toys to rich children?"
"We of the Forest know nothing of riches," she replied. "It seems to
me that one child is like another child, since they are all made of
the same clay, and that riches are like a gown, which may be put on or
taken away, leaving the child unchanged. But the Fairies are
guardians of mankind, and know mortal children better than I. Let us
call the Fairy Queen."
This was done, and the Queen of the Fairies sat beside them and heard
Claus relate his reasons for thinking the rich children could get
along without his toys, and also what the Nymph had said.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: whispered. Still the young man moved slowly downward. Suddenly
dropping the arrow and standing erect, Iktomi said aloud: "Grow
fast to the bark of the tree!" Before the brave could leap from
the tree he became tight-grown to the bark.
"Ah! ha!" laughed the bad Iktomi. "I have the magic arrow!
I have the beaded buckskins of the great avenger!" Hooting and
dancing beneath the tree, he said: "I shall kill the red eagle; I
shall wed the chieftain's beautiful daughter!"
"Oh, Iktomi, set me free!" begged the tree-bound Dakota
brave. But Iktomi's ears were like the fungus on a tree. He did
not hear with them.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: death. They took no interest in politics as such; they even
condemned political action as Antichristian: notably, Luther
in the case of the Peasants' War. And yet, as the purely
religious question was inseparably complicated with political
difficulties, and they had to make opposition, from day to
day, against principalities and powers, they were led, one
after another, and again and again, to leave the sphere which
was more strictly their own, and meddle, for good and evil,
with the affairs of State. Not much was to be expected from
interference in such a spirit. Whenever a minister found
himself galled or hindered, he would be inclined to suppose
|
