The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Confessio Amantis by John Gower: Is forto witen overmore
The forme of Aristotles lore,
He seith in his entendement,
That yit ther is an Element 610
Above the foure, and is the fifte,
Set of the hihe goddes yifte,
The which that Orbis cleped is.
And therupon he telleth this,
That as the schelle hol and sound
Encloseth al aboute round
What thing withinne an Ey belongeth,
 Confessio Amantis |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: could they be? Had Hiram met a ranger? I began to shake a little, and was
about to creep to the door when I heard the clink of stirrups and soft thud
of hoofs. Then followed more voices, and last a loud volley of curses.
"Herky-Jerky!" I gasped, and looked about wildly.
I had no time to dash out of the door. I was caught in a trap, and I felt
cold and sick. Suddenly I caught sight of the ladder leading to the loft.
Like a monkey I ran up, and crawled as noiselessly as possible upon the
rickety flooring of dry pine branches. Then I lay there quivering.
XIV. A PRISONER
It chanced that as I lay on my side my eye caught a gleam of light through
a little ragged hole in the matting of pine branches. Part of the interior
 The Young Forester |