| 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: so himself.
"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time
beside that awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology,
and I thought that I believed what I taught; but now I
see that I did not believe it--that it is impossible
for man to believe such things as these unless he sees
them with his own eyes. We take things for granted,
perhaps, because we are told them over and over again,
and have no way of disproving them--like religions,
for example; but we don't believe them, we only think
we do. If you ever get back to the outer world you
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 Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: Parasha declared that it must be the Vice-Governor's wife, so, as I
did not want to be bored with her, I gave orders that I was to be
reported 'not at home.'"
For her part, the guest would have liked to have proceeded to business
by communicating her tidings, but a sudden exclamation from the
hostess imparted (temporarily) a new direction to the conversation.
"What a pretty chintz!" she cried, gazing at the other's gown.
"Yes, it IS pretty," agreed the visitor. "On the other hand,
Praskovia Thedorovna thinks that--"
In other words, the ladies proceeded to indulge in a conversation on
the subject of dress; and only after this had lasted for a
Dead Souls |
