| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: One morning the old Water-rat put his head out of his hole. He had
bright beady eyes and stiff grey whiskers and his tail was like a
long bit of black india-rubber. The little ducks were swimming
about in the pond, looking just like a lot of yellow canaries, and
their mother, who was pure white with real red legs, was trying to
teach them how to stand on their heads in the water.
"You will never be in the best society unless you can stand on your
heads," she kept saying to them; and every now and then she showed
them how it was done. But the little ducks paid no attention to
her. They were so young that they did not know what an advantage
it is to be in society at all.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: excessive naivete. That made them all laugh. The right hand
jealous of the left! The heart jealous of the soul! But for that
matter, the Creole husband is never jealous; with him the gangrene
passion is one which has become dwarfed by disuse.
Meanwhile Robert, addressing Mrs Pontellier, continued to tell
of his one time hopeless passion for Madame Ratignolle; of
sleepless nights, of consuming flames till the very sea sizzled
when he took his daily plunge. While the lady at the needle kept
up a little running, contemptuous comment:
"Blagueur--farceur--gros bete, va!"
He never assumed this seriocomic tone when alone with Mrs.
 Awakening & Selected Short Stories |