I like your version, since you don't have to list the text files in the script...and you can add a choice simply by adding a file to the directory. It inspired me to update my version:

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use strict;
use warnings;

use Path::Tiny;

my $dir_path = path('text_files');
my @choices = $dir_path->children;

unless( scalar @choices > 0 ){
    die "No text files found in $dir_path";
}

my $random_path = $choices[rand scalar @choices];
my $text = $random_path->slurp;

print "The text is: $text\n";

exit;
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