| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: paymaster," he said, "who pays before it is done. What would you
do were I to miss the buck after you have paid me my wood-fee?"
"I suppose," said the Keeper, smiling, "you would hardly guess
what I mean were I to tell you of a condictio indebiti?"
"Not I, on my saul. I guess it is some law phrase; but sue a
beggar, and--your honour knows what follows. Well, but I will
be just with you, and if bow and brach fail not, you shall have a
piece of game two fingers fat on the brisket."
As he was about to go off, his master again called him, and
asked, as if by accident, whether the Master of Ravenswood was
actually so brave a man and so good a shooter as the world spoke
The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Burning Daylight by Jack London: bend of the river gave a long vista south, the sun showed its
upper rim above the sky-line. But it did not rise
perpendicularly. Instead, it rose on a slant, so that by high
noon it had barely lifted its lower rim clear of the horizon. It
was a dim, wan sun. There was no heat to its rays, and a man
could gaze squarely into the full orb of it without hurt to his
eyes. No sooner had it reached meridian than it began its slant
back beneath the horizon, and at quarter past twelve the earth
threw its shadow again over the land.
The men and dogs raced on. Daylight and Kama were both savages
so far as their stomachs were concerned. They could eat
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