| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: a chase, a hunt; a hunt in Paris, a hunt with all its chances, minus
dogs and guns and the tally-ho! Nothing compares with it but the life
of gamblers. But it needs a heart big with love and vengeance to
ambush itself in Paris, like a tiger waiting to spring upon its prey,
and to enjoy the chances and contingencies of Paris, by adding one
special interest to the many that abound there. But for this we need a
many-sided soul--for must we not live in a thousand passions, a
thousand sentiments?
Auguste de Maulincour flung himself into this ardent existence
passionately, for he felt all its pleasures and all its misery. He
went disguised about Paris, watching at the corners of the rue Pagevin
Ferragus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: pabas of our people, for if the priests torture and sacrifice, it
is to the gods and not for gold and secret hate. Now, husband,
what is your counsel? Surely you have some counsel.'
'I have none that I dare offer, wife,' I groaned.
'You are timid as a girl who will not utter the love she burns to
tell,' Otomie answered with a proud and bitter laugh. 'Well, I
will speak it for you. It is in your mind that we must die to-
night.'
'It is,' I said; 'death now, or shame and agony to-morrow and then
death at last, that is our choice. Since God will not protect us,
we must protect ourselves if we can find the means.'
Montezuma's Daughter |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: lost her mind. She tears her hair and rips her dress, and faints
at every step she takes; nor can anything comfort her when she
sees her husband borne along lifeless in the bier; for her
happiness is at an end, and so she made her loud lament. The
holy water and the cross and the tapers were borne in advance by
the nuns from a convent; then came missals and censers and the
priests, who pronounce the final absolution required for the
wretched soul.
(Vv. 1173-1242.) My lord Yvain heard the cries and the grief
that can never be described, for no one could describe it, nor
was such ever set down in a book. The procession passed, but in
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