| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: rope is this hanging there?--And you, you lout, why are you standing
there with your hands hanging beside you?" he added, turning to the
youngest. "Why don't you fight me? you son of a dog!"
"What an idea!" said the mother, who had managed in the meantime to
embrace her youngest. "Who ever heard of children fighting their own
father? That's enough for the present; the child is young, he has had
a long journey, he is tired." The child was over twenty, and about six
feet high. "He ought to rest, and eat something; and you set him to
fighting!"
"You are a gabbler!" said Bulba. "Don't listen to your mother, my lad;
she is a woman, and knows nothing. What sort of petting do you need? A
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: shut Captain Nemo and his companions within the Nautilus,
but a hatred, either monstrous or sublime, which time could
never weaken. Did this hatred still seek for vengeance?
The future would soon teach me that. But the Nautilus
was rising slowly to the surface of the sea, and the form
of the Avenger disappeared by degrees from my sight.
Soon a slight rolling told me that we were in the open air.
At that moment a dull boom was heard. I looked at the Captain.
He did not move.
"Captain?" said I.
He did not answer. I left him and mounted the platform.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
