| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: of the luscious flesh he cast discretion to the winds and
charged. Instantly, as though Nature had given him eyes in
the back of his head, Tarzan sensed the impending danger and,
dropping Bara to the ground, turned with raised spear. Far
back went the brown, right hand and then forward, lightning-
like, backed by the power of giant muscles and the weight of
his brawn and bone. The spear, released at the right instant,
drove straight for Dango, caught him in the neck where it
joined the shoulders and passed through the body.
When he had withdrawn the shaft from the hyena Tarzan
shouldered both carcasses and continued on toward the gulch.
Tarzan the Untamed |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: "And yet he went there; he is there!--That woman is bent on breaking
all our hearts! Only yesterday my brother and Celestine pledged their
all to pay off seventy thousand francs on notes of hand signed for
that good-for-nothing creature.--Yes, mamma, my father would have been
arrested and put into prison. Cannot that dreadful woman be content
with having my father, and with all your tears? Why take my Wenceslas?
--I will go to see her and stab her!"
Madame Hulot, struck to the heart by the dreadful secrets Hortense was
unwittingly letting out, controlled her grief by one of the heroic
efforts which a magnanimous mother can make, and drew her daughter's
head on to her bosom to cover it with kisses.
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