| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: Republic, one and indivisible. You know that, and my duty is to
make that easy. A king should lead his people; you want me to
stick on their backs like some Old Man of the Sea. To-day must
be a sacrament of kings. Our trust for mankind is done with and
ended. We must part our robes among them, we must part our
kingship among them, and say to them all, now the king in every
one must rule the world.... Have you no sense of the magnificence
of this occasion? You want me, Firmin, you want me to go up
there and haggle like a damned little solicitor for some price,
some compensation, some qualification....'
Firmin shrugged his shoulders and assumed an expression of
 The Last War: A World Set Free |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: which was always as tolerant as it is possible for sarcasm to be.
But what a charming, gentle, gay, and fearless companion she would
have made! I believed in her fearlessness in any adventure that
would interest her. It would be a new occasion for me, a new
viewpoint for that faculty of admiration she had awakened in me at
sight - at first sight - before she opened her lips - before she
ever turned her eyes on me. She would have to wear some sort of
sailor costume, a blue woollen shirt open at the throat. . . .
Dominic's hooded cloak would envelop her amply, and her face under
the black hood would have a luminous quality, adolescent charm, and
an enigmatic expression. The confined space of the little vessel's
 The Arrow of Gold |