| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: hauled up on the beach, found, a good way from
Brenzett, an ordinary ship's hencoop lying high
and dry on the shore, with eleven drowned ducks
inside. Their families ate the birds, and the hen-
coop was split into firewood with a hatchet. It is
possible that a man (supposing he happened to be
on deck at the time of the accident) might have
floated ashore on that hencoop. He might. I ad-
mit it is improbable, but there was the man--and
for days, nay, for weeks--it didn't enter our heads
that we had amongst us the only living soul that
Amy Foster |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: toward her, and stiff curtains which were less white than her face.
Madame Aubain lay at the foot of the couch, clasping it with her arms
and uttering groans of agony. The Mother Superior was standing on the
right side of the bed. The three candles on the bureau made red blurs,
and the windows were dimmed by the fog outside. The nuns carried
Madame Aubain from the room.
For two nights, Felicite never left the corpse. She would repeat the
same prayers, sprinkle holy water over the sheets, get up, come back
to the bed and contemplate the body. At the end of the first vigil,
she noticed that the face had taken on a yellow tinge, the lips grew
blue, the nose grew pinched, the eyes were sunken. She kissed them
A Simple Soul |
