| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: But they had not come to that length, it seems, to my satisfaction;
and when my nephew told me what they had said to him, and how they
had sworn and shook hands that they would, one and all, leave the
ship if I was suffered to come on board, I told him he should not
be concerned at it at all, for I would stay on shore. I only
desired he would take care and send me all my necessary things on
shore, and leave me a sufficient sum of money, and I would find my
way to England as well as I could. This was a heavy piece of news
to my nephew, but there was no way to help it but to comply; so, in
short, he went on board the ship again, and satisfied the men that
his uncle had yielded to their importunity, and had sent for his
Robinson Crusoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the
rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream. There was
no additional strangulation; the noose about his neck
was already suffocating him and kept the water from his
lungs. To die of hanging at the bottom of a river! -- the
idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the
darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant,
how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became
fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it
began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising
toward the surface -- knew it with reluctance, for he was now
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
