| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: a great deal more good than swallowing down half a bucketful at a time,
because we have been left without till we are thirsty and miserable.
Some grooms will go home to their beer and leave us for hours
with our dry hay and oats and nothing to moisten them; then of course
we gulp down too much at once, which helps to spoil our breathing
and sometimes chills our stomachs. But the best thing we had here
was our Sundays for rest; we worked so hard in the week
that I do not think we could have kept up to it but for that day;
besides, we had then time to enjoy each other's company.
It was on these days that I learned my companion's history.
34 An Old War Horse
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: Grows, like a miser, niggard of her beams,
And hides her face behind a muslin mask
As harlots do when they go forth to snare
Some wretched soul in sin. Now, I will get
Your cloak and sword. Nay, pardon, my good Lord,
It is but meet that I should wait on you
Who have so honoured my poor burgher's house,
Drunk of my wine, and broken bread, and made
Yourself a sweet familiar. Oftentimes
My wife and I will talk of this fair night
And its great issues.
|
