| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: towards the sea, then rising landward according to either the fall of
the ground or the necessity of rounding some breastwork of rock. By
mid-day, we were only half way.
"We will stop to rest over there," I said, pointing to a promontory of
rocks sufficiently high to make it probable we should find a grotto.
The fisherman, who heard me and saw the direction in which I pointed,
shook his head, and said,--
"Some one is there. All those who come from the village of Batz to
Croisic, or from Croisic to Batz, go round that place; they never pass
it."
These words were said in a low voice, and seemed to indicate a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: the most of the council were against the risking of an engagement
with the Spaniards and their allies so far from the city, and thus
the opportunity went by to return no more. It was an evil fortune
like the rest, for in the end these brigantines brought about the
fall of Tenoctitlan by cutting off the supply of food, which was
carried in canoes across the lake. Alas! the bravest can do
nothing against the power of famine. Hunger is a very great man,
as the Indians say.
Now the Aztecs fighting alone were face to face with their foes and
the last struggle began. First the Spaniards cut the aqueduct
which supplied the city with water from the springs at the royal
Montezuma's Daughter |
