| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: I would get the second mate to relieve me at that hour.
"He will turn out the cook and the steward at four," I concluded,
"and then give you a call. Of course at the slightest sign of any
sort of wind we'll have the hands up and make a start at once."
He concealed his astonishment. "Very well, sir." Outside the cuddy
he put his head in the second mate's door to inform him of my
unheard-of caprice to take a five hours' anchor watch on myself.
I heard the other raise his voice incredulously--"What? The
Captain himself?" Then a few more murmurs, a door closed, then another.
A few moments later I went on deck.
My strangeness, which had made me sleepless, had prompted that
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: him, and wondered who he was.
The sun came up and sent its flood of silver rays to light the faces
of the invaders. The frowns and scowls and evil looks were all gone.
Even the most monstrous of the creatures there assembled smiled
innocently and seemed light-hearted and content merely to be alive.
Not so with Roquat, the Nome King. He had not drunk from the
Forbidden Fountain and all his former rage against Ozma and Dorothy
now inflamed him as fiercely as ever. The sight of General Guph
babbling like a happy child and playing with his hands in the cool
waters of the fountain astonished and maddened Red Roquat. Seeing
that his terrible allies and his own General refused to act, the Nome
The Emerald City of Oz |
