| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll: They knew it was not of the slightest use to appeal to the Bellman about it--
he would only refer to his Naval Code, and read out in pathetic tones
Admiralty Instructions which none of them had ever been able to understand--
so it generally ended in its being fastened on, anyhow, across the rudder.
The helmsman used to stand by with tears in his eyes; he knew it was all wrong,
but alas! Rule 42 of the Code, "No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm,"
had been completed by the Bellman himself with the words "and the Man at the
Helm shall speak to no one." So remonstrance was impossible, and no steering
could be done till the next varnishing day. During these bewildering intervals
the ship usually sailed backwards.
As this poem is to some extent connected with the lay of the Jabberwock,
The Hunting of the Snark |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: of any charms, whether of Zamolxis or of Abaris the Hyperborean, and I may
as well let you have the cure of the head at once; but if you have not yet
acquired this quality, I must use the charm before I give you the medicine.
Please, therefore, to inform me whether you admit the truth of what Critias
has been saying;--have you or have you not this quality of temperance?
Charmides blushed, and the blush heightened his beauty, for modesty is
becoming in youth; he then said very ingenuously, that he really could not
at once answer, either yes, or no, to the question which I had asked: For,
said he, if I affirm that I am not temperate, that would be a strange thing
for me to say of myself, and also I should give the lie to Critias, and
many others who think as he tells you, that I am temperate: but, on the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: should be parted for ever. Listen; I know all the purity of your soul,
I know you lead a saintly life, and would not commit a deadly sin to
save your life.'--At these words Madame de Merret looked at her
husband with a haggard stare.--'See, here is your crucifix,' he went
on. 'Swear to me before God that there is no one in there; I will
believe you--I will never open that door.'
"Madame de Merret took up the crucifix and said, 'I swear it.'
" 'Louder,' said her husband; 'and repeat: "I swear before God that
there is nobody in that closet." ' She repeated the words without
flinching.
" 'That will do,' said Monsieur de Merret coldly. After a moment's
La Grande Breteche |
