| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: in the place where his master had been.
But he could not get warm in the sledge either. At first he
shivered all over, then the shivering ceased and little by
little he began to lose consciousness. He did not know whether
he was dying or falling asleep, but felt equally prepared for
the one as for the other.
VIII
Meanwhile Vasili Andreevich, with his feet and the ends of the
reins, urged the horse on in the direction in which for some
reason he expected the forest and forester's hut to be. The
snow covered his eyes and the wind seemed intent on stopping
Master and Man |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: sand with a cap of clay on the top; and we will rain on that out
of our watering-pot, and see what sort of glens we make then. I
can guess what they will be like, because I have seen them--steep
overhanging cliffs, with very narrow gullies down them: but you
shall try for yourself, and make up your mind whether you think me
right or wrong. Meanwhile, remember that those gullies too will
have been made by water.
And there is another way of "verifying my theory," as it is
called; in plain English, seeing if my guess holds good; that is,
to look at other valleys--not merely the valleys round here, but
valleys in clay, in chalk, in limestone, in the hard slate rock
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