| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: Sweet Queen Zurline of the Wood-Nymphs completed the circle of immortals.
But in the center of the circle sat three others who possessed powers
so great that all the Kings and Queens showed them reverence.
These were Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World, who rules the forests
and the orchards and the groves; and Kern, the Master Husbandman of
the World, who rules the grain fields and the meadows and the gardens;
and Bo, the Master Mariner of the World, who rules the seas and all
the craft that float thereon. And all other immortals are more or
less subject to these three.
When all had assembled the Master Woodsman of the World stood up to
address them, since he himself had summoned them to the council.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: Capmakers became colonels, assuming the duties of generals;
revolvers and daggers were displayed on large rotund bodies,
enveloped in red sashes; common citizens turned warriors,
commanding battalions of noisy volunteers, and swearing like
troopers to emphasize their importance.
The very fact of bearing arms and handling guns with a system
excited a people who hitherto had only handled scales and
measures, and made them formidable to the first comer, without
reason. They even executed a few innocent people to prove that
they knew how to kill; and, in roaming through virgin fields
still belonging to the Prussians, they shot stray dogs, cows
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