| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov: coloured kid gloves and a forage-cap, and with
his right he kept every moment twisting his
frizzled tuft of hair up into tiny curls. Com-
placency and at the same time a certain diffi-
dence were depicted upon his face. His festal
appearance and proud gait would have made me
burst out laughing, if such a proceeding had
been in accordance with my intentions.
He threw his cap and gloves on the table and
began to pull down the skirts of his coat and to
put himself to rights before the looking-glass. An
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: trunks, loopholed for rifles, with a single embrasure
through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon
commanding the bridge. Midway up the slope between the
bridge and fort were the spectators -- a single company of
infantry in line, at "parade rest," the butts of their rifles
on the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward
against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock.
A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point
of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his
right. Excepting the group of four at the center of the
bridge, not a man moved. The company faced the bridge,
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: the sudden crashing down of cities, such as we had seen in the
picture Yva showed us in the Temple, of the inflow of the waters
of the deep piled up in mighty waves, of the woe and desolation
as of the end of the world, and of the quiet, following death. So
I thought and in my heart prayed to the great Arch-Architect of
the Universe to stretch out His Arm to avert this fearsome ruin
of His handiwork.
Oro glared, his thin fingers tightened their grip upon the rod,
his hair and long beard seemed to bristle with furious and
delighted excitement. The purple-fringed rim of the Monster had
long overshadowed the whited patch of rock; its grinding foot was
When the World Shook |
