| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: fellow,"Hist!--Do you see that bundle under his head?"
The other villain nodded, winked, and leered.
"I'll bet you a horn of brandy," said the first, "that the chap
has either a pocket-book, or a snug little hoard of small change,
stowed away amongst his shirts. And if not there, we shall find
it in his pantaloons pocket."
"But how if he wakes?" said the other.
His companion thrust aside his waistcoat, pointed to the handle
of a dirk, and nodded.
"So be it!" muttered the second villain.
They approached the unconscious David, and, while one pointed the
Twice Told Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: At the stables Butzow requisitioned three horses, and soon
the trio was galloping through a little-frequented street
toward the northern, hilly environs of Lustadt. They rode
in silence until they came to an old stone building, whose
boarded windows and general appearance of dilapidation
proclaimed its long tenantless condition. Rank weeds, now
rustling dry and yellow in the November wind, choked
what once might have been a luxuriant garden. A stone
wall, which had at one time entirely surrounded the grounds,
had been almost completely removed from the front to serve
as foundation stone for a smaller edifice farther down the
The Mad King |
