| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: But when, in Phrygia even, the freedom of his march along the flats
was hampered by the cavalry of Pharnabazus, he saw that if he wished
to avoid a skulking warfare under cover, a force of cavalry was
indispensable. Accordingly he enlisted the wealthiest members of every
city in those parts to breed and furnish horses; with this saving
clause, however: that the individual who furnished a horse and arms
with a good rider should be exempt from service himself. By this means
he engendered an eagerness to discharge the obligation, not unlike
that of the condemned man, casting about to discover some one to die
in his place.[11] He further ordered some of the states themselves to
furnish contingents of mounted troopers, and this in the conviction
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: Others exclaimed: "Let us carry them to the lake of muddy
water and drown them!"
Instantly they ran with them. They threw the Fish and the
Turtle into the lake. Toward the center of the large lake the
Turtle dived. There he peeped up out of the water and, waving a
hand at the crowd, sang out, "This is where I live!"
The Fish swam hither and thither with such frolicsome darts
that his back fin made the water fly. "E han!" whooped the Fish,
"this is where I live!"
"Oh, what have we done!" said the frightened people, "this
will be our undoing."
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