| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and I chanced to be near when you fell from the car--"
with that innate refinement which always belied his vo-
cation and his rags Bridge chose not to embarrass the
girl by a too intimate knowledge of the thing which
had befallen her, preferring to leave to her own volition
the making of any explanation she saw fit, or of none
--"and we carried you in here out of the storm."
The girl was silent for a moment. "Where is 'here'?"
she asked presently. "They drove so fast and it was so
dark that I had no idea where we were, though I know
that we left the turnpike."
The Oakdale Affair |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: I will say that which my spirit within me bids me utter.
This stranger, I know not who he is, hath come to my house
in his wandering, whether from the men of the dawning or
the westward, and he presses for a convoy, and prays that
it be assured to him. So let us, as in time past, speed on
the convoy. For never, nay never, doth any man who cometh
to my house, abide here long in sorrow for want of help
upon his way. Nay, come let us draw down a black ship to
the fair salt sea, for her first voyage, and let them
choose fifty and two noble youths throughout the township,
who have been proved heretofore the best. And when ye have
The Odyssey |
