| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: of which it seemed to be summer-time and in the other half winter. On
one side the finest flowers were in full bloom, and on the other
everything looked dreary and buried in the snow. 'A lucky hit!' said
he, as he called to his servant, and told him to go to a beautiful bed
of roses that was there, and bring him away one of the finest flowers.
This done, they were riding away well pleased, when up sprang a fierce
lion, and roared out, 'Whoever has stolen my roses shall be eaten up
alive!' Then the man said, 'I knew not that the garden belonged to
you; can nothing save my life?' 'No!' said the lion, 'nothing, unless
you undertake to give me whatever meets you on your return home; if
you agree to this, I will give you your life, and the rose too for
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: cherished no image but yours, my ears have listened to no other voice.
What duty have I failed in? What have I ever denied you?"
"Happiness, madame," said the Count severely. "You know, madame, that
there are two ways of serving God. Some Christians imagine that by
going to church at fixed hours to say a /Paternoster/, by attending
Mass regularly and avoiding sin, they may win heaven--but they,
madame, will go to hell; they have not loved God for himself, they
have not worshiped Him as He chooses to be worshiped, they have made
no sacrifice. Though mild in seeming, they are hard on their
neighbors; they see the law, the letter, not the spirit.--This is how
you have treated me, your earthly husband; you have sacrificed my
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: the fierce glow that reddened upon his face. The lime-burner sat
watching him, and half suspected this strange guest of a purpose,
if not to evoke a fiend, at least to plunge into the flames, and
thus vanish from the sight of man. Ethan Brand, however, drew
quietly back, and closed the door of the kiln.
"I have looked," said he, "into many a human heart that was seven
times hotter with sinful passions than yonder furnace is with
fire. But I found not there what I sought. No, not the
Unpardonable Sin!"
"What is the Unpardonable Sin?" asked the lime-burner; and then
he shrank farther from his companion, trembling lest his question
The Snow Image |
