| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: Thus then, my father, did Chaka the King, the greatest man who has
ever lived in Zululand, and the most evil, pass by my hand to those
kraals of the Inkosazana where no sleep is. In blood he died as he had
lived in blood, for the climber at last falls with the tree, and in
the end the swimmer is borne away by the stream. Now he trod that path
which had been beaten flat for him by the feet of people whom he had
slaughtered, many as the blades of grass upon a mountain-side; but it
is a lie to say, as some do, that he died a coward, praying for mercy.
Chaka died, as he had lived, a brave man. Ou! my father, I know it,
for these eyes saw it and this hand let out his life.
Now he was dead and the regiment of the Bees drew near, nor could I
Nada the Lily |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: their arguments confuted by such conclusive evidence of the advantages
of attacking that what had been discussed at the council- the coming
battle and the victory that would certainly result from it- no
longer seemed to be in the future but in the past. All the
advantages were on our side. Our enormous forces, undoubtedly superior
to Napoleon's, were concentrated in one place, the troops inspired
by the Emperors' presence were eager for action. The strategic
position where the operations would take place was familiar in all its
details to the Austrian General Weyrother: a lucky accident had
ordained that the Austrian army should maneuver the previous year on
the very fields where the French had now to be fought; the adjacent
War and Peace |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: innumerable conflicting ideas. But by dint of inventing chimeras,
weaving romances, and cudgeling his brains, he hit at last upon one of
the hopeful stratagems that are sure to occur to your mind if you
persevere long enough, a stratagem which must make clear to the most
inexperienced woman that here was a man who took a fervent interest in
her. The caprice of social conventions puts as many barriers between
lovers as any Oriental imagination can devise in the most delightfully
fantastic tale; indeed, the most extravagant pictures are seldom
exaggerations. In real life, as in the fairy tales, the woman belongs
to him who can reach her and set her free from the position in which
she languishes. The poorest of calenders that ever fell in love with
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