| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Isaac Zane dropped back not altogether unhappily into his old place in the
wigwam, in the hunting parties, and in the Indian games.
When the braves were in camp, the greatest part of the day was spent in
shooting and running matches, in canoe races, in wrestling, and in the game of
ball. The chiefs and the older braves who had won their laurels and the
maidens of the tribe looked on and applauded.
Isaac entered into all these pastimes, partly because he had a natural love
for them, and partly because he wished to win the regard of the Indians. In
wrestling, and in those sports which required weight and endurance, he usually
suffered defeat. In a foot race there was not a brave in the entire tribe who
Betty Zane |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: a thick gray fog brooded over the land as though hiding the
mysteries of the transformations that were being wrought in
nature. Behind the fog there was the flowing of water, the
cracking and floating of ice, the swift rush ofturbid, foaming
torrents; and on the following Monda, in the evening, the fog
parted, the storm clouds split up into little curling crests of
cloud, the sky cleared, and the real spring had come. In the
morning the sun rose brilliant and quickly wore away the thin
layer of ice that covered the water, and all the warm air was
quivering with the steam that roase up from the quickened earth.
The old grass looked greener, and the young grass thrust up its
Anna Karenina |
