The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: the banished adventurer from Scotland.
Accordingly, the Queen and her household were startled with a
visit from Sir Thomas de Vaux, requesting the present attendance
of the Lady Calista of Montfaucon, the Queen's principal bower-
woman, upon King Richard.
"What am I to say, madam?" said the trembling attendant to the
Queen, "He will slay us all."
"Nay, fear not, madam," said De Vaux. "His Majesty hath spared
the life of the Scottish knight, who was the chief offender, and
bestowed him upon the Moorish physician. He will not be severe
upon a lady, though faulty."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: the plains of North Carolina, seeking the Atlantic Ocean? Or would he
head to the west to reach the Pacific? Perhaps he would seek, to the
south, the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. When day came how should I
recognize which sea we were upon, if the horizon of water and sky
encircled us on every side?
Several hours passed; and how long they seemed to me! I made no
effort to find forgetfulness in sleep. Wild and incoherent thoughts
assailed me. I felt myself swept over worlds of imagination, as I was
swept through space, by an aerial monster. At the speed which the
"Terror" possessed, whither might I not be carried during this
interminable night? I recalled the unbelievable voyage of the
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