The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: unclean dogs, how Christians suffer! Let none of us utter a single
word." After this he ascended the scaffold.
"Well done, son! well done!" said Bulba, softly, and bent his grey
head.
The executioner tore off his old rags; they fastened his hands and
feet in stocks prepared expressly, and-- We will not pain the reader
with a picture of the hellish tortures which would make his hair rise
upright on his head. They were the outcome of that coarse, wild age,
when men still led a life of warfare which hardened their souls until
no sense of humanity was left in them. In vain did some, not many, in
that age make a stand against such terrible measures. In vain did the
 Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: way;
Time, I know, will stop you, soon enough some
day.
OPPORTUNITY
So long as men shall be on earth
There will be tasks for them to do,
Some way for them to show their worth;
Each day shall bring its problems new.
And men shall dream of mightier deeds
Than ever have been done before:
There always shall be human needs
 A Heap O' Livin' |