| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: brusque movement like a downward stab she transfixed the whole mass
of tawny glints and sparks with the arrow of gold which she
perceived lying there, before her, on the marble console. Then she
sprang away from the glass muttering feverishly, "Out - out - out
of this house," and trying with an awful, senseless stare to dodge
past me who had put myself in her way with open arms. At last I
managed to seize her by the shoulders and in the extremity of my
distress I shook her roughly. If she hadn't quieted down then I
believe my heart would have broken. I spluttered right into her
face: "I won't let you. Here you stay." She seemed to recognize
me at last, and suddenly still, perfectly firm on her white feet,
The Arrow of Gold |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: mass stood ready in two glasses such as could scarcely be found in the
meanest tavern. For want of a missal, the priest had laid his breviary
on the altar, and a common earthenware plate was set for the washing
of hands that were pure and undefiled with blood. It was all so
infinitely great, yet so little, poverty-stricken yet noble, a
mingling of sacred and profane.
The stranger came forward reverently to kneel between the two nuns.
But the priest had tied crape round the chalice of the crucifix,
having no other way of marking the mass as a funeral service; it was
as if God himself had been in mourning. The man suddenly noticed this,
and the sight appeared to call up some overwhelming memory, for great
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