| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: fancy. Suppose, indeed, that is to be the end of our planet; no
splendid climax and finale, no towering accumulation of
achievements, but just--atomic decay! I add that to the ideas of
the suffocating comet, the dark body out of space, the burning
out of the sun, the distorted orbit, as a new and far more
possible end--as Science can see ends--to this strange by-play
of matter that we call human life. I do not believe this can be
the end; no human soul can believe in such an end and go on
living, but to it science points as a possible thing, science and
reason alike. If single human beings--if one single ricketty
infant--can be born as it were by accident and die futile, why
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs:
No amount of scolding or cuffing would suffice to make him
release me, and I was entirely at the mercy of his brute strength
unless I cared to use my dagger upon him with my left hand; but,
mad or no, I had not the heart to run the sharp blade into that
faithful body.
Down into the chamber he dragged me, and across it to the side
opposite that at which we had entered. Here was another doorway
leading into a corridor which ran directly down a steep incline.
Without a moment's hesitation Woola jerked me along this rocky passage.
The Warlord of Mars |
