| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: carrying them in such a way that ends and corners fell
down about my shoulders completely hiding my face.
Thus disguised I found Perry and Ghak together in the
chamber where we had been wont to eat and sleep.
Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of
course they had known nothing of the fate that had been
meted out to me by my judges. It was decided that no time
should now be lost before attempting to put our plan of
escape to the test, as I could not hope to remain hidden
from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry that bale
of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion.
At the Earth's Core |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: business letters, a set of common pigeon-holes for either partner, a
cylinder desk, empty as the cash-box, in the middle of the room, and a
couple of armchairs on either side of a coal fire. The carpet on the
floor was bought cheap at second-hand (like the bills and bad debts).
In short, it was the mahogany furniture of furnished apartments which
usually descends from one occupant of chambers to another during fifty
years of service. Now you know the pair of antagonists.
"During the first three months of a partnership dissolved four months
later in a bout of fisticuffs, Cerizet and Claparon bought up two
thousand francs' worth of bills bearing Maxime's signature (since
Maxime was his name), and filled a couple of letters to bursting with
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