| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: the latter had stepped one pace upon the floor.
"Villain, unmuffle yourself!" cried he. "You pass no farther!"
The figure, without blenching a hair's breadth from the sword
which was pointed at his breast, made a solemn pause and lowered
the cape of the cloak from about his face, yet not sufficiently
for the spectators to catch a glimpse of it. But Sir William Howe
had evidently seen enough. The sternness of his countenance gave
place to a look of wild amazement, if not horror, while he
recoiled several steps from the figure and let fall his sword
upon the floor. The martial shape again drew the cloak about his,
features and passed on; but reaching the threshold, with his back
Twice Told Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: Then at the bottom of a wide canon he entered a wash where the
wheels just barely turned in dragging sand. The sun beat down
white-hot, the dust arose, there was not a breath of wind; and no
sound save the slide of a rock now and then down the weathered
slopes and the labored chugging of the machine. The snail pace,
like the sand at the wheels, began to drag at Madeline's faith.
Link gave over the wheel to Madeline, and, leaping out, he called
Nels. When they untied the long planks and laid them straight in
front for the wheels to pass over Madeline saw how wise had been
Link's forethought. With the aid of those planks they worked the
car through sand and gravel otherwise impossible to pass.
The Light of Western Stars |
