| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: for him. He busied himself with the numerous flock confided to his care,
and spared his companions the trouble of coming every two or three days to
visit the corral. Nevertheless, in order not to leave Ayrton in solitude
for too long a time, the settlers often paid him a visit.
It was not unimportant either, in consequence of some suspicions
entertained by the engineer and Gideon Spilett, that this part of the
island should be subject to a surveillance of some sort, and that Ayrton,
if any incident occurred unexpectedly, should not neglect to inform the
inhabitants of Granite House of it.
Nevertheless it might happen that something would occur which it would be
necessary to bring rapidly to the engineer's knowledge. Independently of
The Mysterious Island |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: and even on the terrace under an awning the bricks were hot,
and the air danced perpetually over the short dry grass.
The red flowers in the stone basins were drooping with the heat,
and the white blossoms which had been so smooth and thick only a few
weeks ago were now dry, and their edges were curled and yellow.
Only the stiff and hostile plants of the south, whose fleshy leaves
seemed to be grown upon spines, still remained standing upright
and defied the sun to beat them down. It was too hot to talk,
and it was not easy to find any book that would withstand the power
of the sun. Many books had been tried and then let fall, and now
Terence was reading Milton aloud, because he said the words of Milton
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