| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: suggested by solitude or by monastic fears. A silver chain set in
motion, by means of invisible wires, a bell placed at the bed's head
of a faithful servitor. The count now pulled the chain, and the boots
and spurs of the man on duty sounded on the stone steps of a spiral
staircase, placed in the tall tower which flanked the western corner
of the chateau on the ocean side.
When the count heard the steps of his retainer he pulled back the
rusty bolts which protected the door leading from the gallery to the
tower, admitting into the sanctuary of learning a man of arms whose
stalwart appearance was in keeping with that of his master. This man,
scarcely awakened, seemed to have walked there by instinct; the horn
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: had begun to wonder what it was that sat so heavily upon the
captain, when the brig rising suddenly on the top of a high
swell, he pointed and cried to us to look. Away on the lee bow,
a thing like a fountain rose out of the moonlit sea, and
immediately after we heard a low sound of roaring.
"What do ye call that?" asked the captain, gloomily.
"The sea breaking on a reef," said Alan. "And now ye ken where
it is; and what better would ye have?"
"Ay," said Hoseason, "if it was the only one."
And sure enough, just as he spoke there came a second fountain
farther to the south.
 Kidnapped |