The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: say something. You called down God's curse upon me, father, till
such time as I should find this murderer and finish what I had
begun. So be it! Let God's curse rest upon me till I do find him.
I am young, but I am quick and strong, and so soon as may be I
start for Spain to hunt him there till I shall run him down or know
him to be dead. If you will give me money to help me on my quest,
so be it--if not I go without. I swear before God and by my
mother's spirit that I will neither rest nor stay till with the
very sword that slew her, I have avenged her blood upon her
murderer or know him dead, and if I suffer myself to be led astray
from the purpose of this oath by aught that is, then may a worse
 Montezuma's Daughter |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: as Ammon and his prophet declare, are no receivers of gifts, and they scorn
such unworthy service. Wherefore also it would seem that wisdom and
justice are especially honoured both by the Gods and by men of sense; and
they are the wisest and most just who know how to speak and act towards
Gods and men. But I should like to hear what your opinion is about these
matters.
ALCIBIADES: I agree, Socrates, with you and with the God, whom, indeed, it
would be unbecoming for me to oppose.
SOCRATES: Do you not remember saying that you were in great perplexity,
lest perchance you should ask for evil, supposing that you were asking for
good?
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: which bore a few books, some bundles of dried herbs, and one or
two wooden cups and platters, were on one side of the fire; on
the other were placed some ordinary tools of field-labour,
mingled with those used by mechanics. Where the bed should have
been, there was a wooden frame, strewed with withered moss and
rushes, the couch of the ascetic. The whole space of the cottage
did not exceed ten feet by six within the walls; and its only
furniture, besides what we have mentioned, was a table and two
stools formed of rough deals.
Within these narrow precincts Isabella now found herself enclosed
with a being, whose history had nothing to reassure her, and the
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