| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: bellicose rhinoceros; but the instant the action was over,
it was as though it never had occurred. The dead man was
stripped of his belongings and left where he had died; the
carnivora would take care of his burial. The trophies that
these Kro-lu left to the meat-eaters would have turned an
English big-game hunter green with envy. They did, it is true,
cut all the edible parts from the rhino and carry them home;
but already they were pretty well weighted down with the spoils
of the chase, and only the fact that they are particularly fond
of rhino-meat caused them to do so.
They left the hide on the pieces they selected, as they use it
The People That Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: truly, his heart must surely vibrate with pain to the deep trouble in
hers. Are they not twice unhappy?"
There was a short pause. Then she rose smiling.
"You little suspected, when you came to Courcelles, that you were to
hear a sermon, did you?"
Gaston felt even further than at first from this extraordinary woman.
Was the charm of that delightful hour due after all to the coquetry of
the mistress of the house? She had been anxious to display her wit. He
bowed stiffly to the Vicomtesse, and went away in desperation.
On the way home he tried to detect the real character of a creature
supple and hard as a steel spring; but he had seen her pass through so
|
