| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: by the arm and holding her tight. It was well that he did so, for
just before her lay the black orifice of the well-hole, which, of
course, she could not see with the silk curtain round her head. The
floor was extremely slippery; something like thick oil had been
spilled where she had to pass; and close to the edge of the hole her
feet shot from under her, and she stumbled forward towards the well-
hole.
When Adam saw Mimi slip, he flung himself backward, still holding
her. His weight told, and he dragged her up from the hole and they
fell together on the floor outside the zone of slipperiness. In a
moment he had raised her up, and together they rushed out through
Lair of the White Worm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: looked her all over from head to foot; the poor brute's knees were
trembling and her breathing was distressed; it was plain that she
could go no faster on a hill. God forbid, thought I, that I should
brutalise this innocent creature; let her go at her own pace, and
let me patiently follow.
What that pace was, there is no word mean enough to describe; it
was something as much slower than a walk as a walk is slower than a
run; it kept me hanging on each foot for an incredible length of
time; in five minutes it exhausted the spirit and set up a fever in
all the muscles of the leg. And yet I had to keep close at hand
and measure my advance exactly upon hers; for if I dropped a few
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