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;