| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: Erect upon the rock, angry and threatening, Otto Liedenbrock was a
rather grotesque fierce parody upon the fierce Achilles defying the
lightning. But I thought it my duty to interpose and attempt to lay
some restraint upon this unmeasured fanaticism.
"Just listen to me," I said firmly. "Ambition must have a limit
somewhere; we cannot perform impossibilities; we are not at all fit
for another sea voyage; who would dream of undertaking a voyage of
five hundred leagues upon a heap of rotten planks, with a blanket in
rags for a sail, a stick for a mast, and fierce winds in our teeth?
We cannot steer; we shall be buffeted by the tempests, and we should
be fools and madmen to attempt to cross a second time."
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: "I will hold stakes on no such matter," said Gosling. "Good now,
my kinsman, drink your wine in quiet, and let such ventures
alone. I promise you, Master Foster hath interest enough to lay
you up in lavender in the Castle at Oxford, or to get your legs
made acquainted with the town-stocks."
"That would be but renewing an old intimacy, for Mike's shins and
the town's wooden pinfold have been well known to each other ere
now," said the mercer; "but he shall not budge from his wager,
unless he means to pay forfeit."
"Forfeit?" said Lambourne; "I scorn it. I value Tony Foster's
wrath no more than a shelled pea-cod; and I will visit his
Kenilworth |
