| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: me Erec. I belong to King Arthur's court, and have been with him
now three years. I know not if any report of my father or of me
has ever reached this land. But I promise you and vow that if
you will fit me out with arms, and will give me your daughter
to-morrow when I strive for the hawk, I will take her to my
country, if God grant me the victory, and I will give her a crown
to wear, and she shall be queen of three cities." "Ah, fair sir!
Is it true that you are Erec, the son of Lac?" "That is who I
am, indeed" quoth he. Then the host was greatly delighted and
said: "We have indeed heard of you in this country. Now I think
all the more of you, for you are very valiant and brave. Nothing
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: outlandish, angry words, mixed with words and even
whole sentences of good English, less strange but even
more surprising. The voice swore and cursed violently;
it riddled the solemn peace of the bay by a volley of
abuse. It began by calling me Pig, and from that went
crescendo into unmentionable adjectives--in English.
The man up there raged aloud in two languages, and
with a sincerity in his fury that almost convinced me I
had, in some way, sinned against the harmony of the
universe. I could hardly see him, but began to think he
would work himself into a fit.
Youth |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: going to a witch to discover whether you had gone to London or to
Huntingdon, and then writing solemnly to inform the Bishop of Ely of
his meritorious exertions!
In such a mad world as this was Paracelsus born. The son of a Swiss
physician, but of noble blood, Philip Aureolus Theophrastus was his
Christian name, Bombast von Hohenheim his surname, which last word
he turned, after the fashion of the times, into Paracelsus. Born in
1493 at Einsiedeln (the hermitage), in Schweiz, which is still a
famous place of pilgrimage, he was often called Eremita--the hermit.
Erasmus, in a letter still extant, but suspected not to be genuine,
addressed him by that name.
|
