| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: horse-thieves.
"What a shame!" he said. "A horse is like
a brother to the peasant. And you robbed him of
it? It is a great sin, I tell you. If you go in for
stealing horses, steal them from the landowners.
They are worse than dogs, and deserve anything."
The talk went on, and the peasants from Po-
dolsk told him that it required a great deal of
cunning to steal a horse on an estate.
"You must know all the ins and outs of the
place, and must have somebody on the spot to
The Forged Coupon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: They are picked men, madam. I am a person of precaution.'
'It would appear so,' she said, with a flash of her occasional
repugnance to the man; and then after a pause, 'Herr von
Gondremark,' she added, 'I recoil from this extremity.'
'I share your Highness's repugnance,' answered he. 'But what would
you have? We are defenceless, else.'
'I see it, but this is sudden. It is a public crime,' she said,
nodding at him with a sort of horror.
'Look but a little deeper,' he returned, 'and whose is the crime?'
'His!' she cried. 'His, before God! And I hold him liable. But
still - '
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