| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: to the roof of my mouth.
Fumbling at the hammer of my rifle, I peered into the black-streaked gloom
of the forest. The crackling of dry twigs brought me to my feet. At the
same moment the mustangs snorted. Something was prowling about just beyond
the light. I thought of a panther. That was the only beast I could think of
which had such an unearthly cry.
Then another bowl, resembling that of a dog, and followed by yelps and
barks, told me that I was being visited by a pack of coyotes. I spent the
good part of an hour listening to their serenade. The wild, mournful notes
sent quivers up my back. By-and-by they went away, and as my fire had
burned down to a red glow and the night wind had grown cold I began to
The Young Forester |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: to-morrow. His feet scrunched the gravel loudly--the
discretion of it. It would have been easier to appraise
had there been a workable alternative. The honesty of
it was indubitable: he meant well by the fellow; and
periodically his shadow leaped up intense by his side on
the trunks of the trees, to lengthen itself, oblique and
dim, far over the grass--repeating his stride.
The discretion of it. Was there a choice? He seemed
already to have lost something of himself; to have given
up to a hungry specter something of his truth and dig-
nity in order to live. But his life was necessary. Let
End of the Tether |
