| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: The farmer slowly felt my legs, which were much swelled and strained;
then he looked at my mouth. "Thirteen or fourteen, I should say;
just trot him out, will you?"
I arched my poor thin neck, raised my tail a little, and threw out my legs
as well as I could, for they were very stiff.
"What is the lowest you will take for him?" said the farmer as I came back.
"Five pounds, sir; that was the lowest price my master set."
"'Tis a speculation," said the old gentleman, shaking his head,
but at the same time slowly drawing out his purse, "quite a speculation!
Have you any more business here?" he said, counting the sovereigns
into his hand.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: all the learned societies in Europe. Seated calmly in this
laboratory, the pale philosopher had investigated the secrets of
the highest cloud region and of the profoundest mines; he had
satisfied himself of the causes that kindled and kept alive the
fires of the volcano; and had explained the mystery of fountains,
and how it is that they gush forth, some so bright and pure, and
others with such rich medicinal virtues, from the dark bosom of
the earth. Here, too, at an earlier period, he had studied the
wonders of the human frame, and attempted to fathom the very
process by which Nature assimilates all her precious influences
from earth and air, and from the spiritual world, to create and
Mosses From An Old Manse |
