| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: they would attack. Coolly, methodically, without haste,
Tarzan drew the rope back and forth against the rough
trunk of the small tree.
In the entrance to the cavern Bukawai fell asleep.
He thought it would be some time before the beasts gained
sufficient courage or hunger to attack the captive.
Their growls and the cries of the victim would awaken him.
In the meantime he might as well rest, and he did.
Thus the day wore on, for the hyenas were not famished,
and the rope with which Tarzan was bound was a stronger
one than that of his boyhood, which had parted so quickly
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: the possession of a husband. She took charge of the weekly accounts;
she locked up the provisions and gave them out daily, after the manner
of her defunct master; she ruled over two servants,--a cook, and a
maid whose business it was to mend the house-linen and make
mademoiselle's dresses. Cornoiller combined the functions of keeper
and bailiff. It is unnecessary to say that the women-servants selected
by Nanon were "perfect treasures." Mademoiselle Grandet thus had four
servants, whose devotion was unbounded. The farmers perceived no
change after Monsieur Grandet's death; the usages and customs he had
sternly established were scrupulously carried out by Monsieur and
Madame Cornoiller.
Eugenie Grandet |
