The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt,
Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled
With much ado the cold fault cleanly out;
Then do they spend their mouths: Echo replies,
As if another chase were in the skies. 696
'By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill,
Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear,
To hearken if his foes pursue him still:
Anon their loud alarums he doth hear; 700
And now his grief may be compared well
To one sore sick that hears the passing bell.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: of pine-trees leaned over the top with here and there a blasted spear
standing out white.
"I had my trap set up thet draw," said Hiram Bent, as he pointed toward an
intersecting canyon. "Just before I waked you I was comin' along here, an'
I heered an all-fired racket up thar, an' so I watched. Soon three black
bears come paddlin' down, an' the biggest was draggin' the trap with the
chain an' log. Then I hurried to tell you. They can't be far."
"Are they grizzlies?" I asked, trying to speak naturally.
"Nope. Jest plain black bears. But the one with the trap is a whopper.
He'll go over four hundred. See the tracks? Looks like somebody'd been
plowin' up the stones."
 The Young Forester |