| 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: from that mysterious forgetfulness of self, from
that enchantment, from that transport, by a
fear resembling the unaccountable terror of a
brute. . . ."
With the sun hanging low on its western limit,
the expanse of the grass-lands framed in the coun-
ter-scarps of the rising ground took on a gorgeous
and sombre aspect. A sense of penetrating sad-
ness, like that inspired by a grave strain of music,
disengaged itself from the silence of the fields.
The men we met walked past slow, unsmiling, with
Amy Foster |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: only after an encounter with the tribe that inhabited the numerous
caves which pitted the face of the escarpment. That night they
camped upon a rocky plateau which was sparsely wooded with jarrah,
and here once again they were visited by the weird, nocturnal
apparition that had already filled them with a nameless terror.
As on the night of September ninth the first warning came
from the sentinel standing guard over his sleeping companions.
A terror-stricken cry punctuated by the crack of a rifle brought
Bradley, Sinclair and Brady to their feet in time to see James,
with clubbed rifle, battling with a white-robed figure that
hovered on widespread wings on a level with the Englishman's head.
Out of Time's Abyss |
