| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: and I beheld him as one sees a fish in an aquarium
by the light of an electric bulb, an elusive, phos-
phorescent shape. Only he did not glide away.
But something else happened. Both binnacle-
lamps went out. I suppose the water forced itself
into them, though I wouldn't have thought that
possible, for they fitted into the cowl perfectly.
The last gleam of light in the universe had gone,
pursued by a low exclamation of dismay from
Gambril. I groped for him and seized his arm.
How startlingly wasted it was.
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: ruling Dynasty which considered itself half divine. These
families were waited upon by a multitude of servants or slaves
drawn from the subject nations, for the most part skilled in one
art or another, or perhaps, remarkable for their personal beauty.
Still they remained outside the pale.
The Sons of Wisdom did not intermarry with them or teach them
their learning, or even allow them to drink of their Life-water.
They ruled them as men rule dogs, treating them with kindness,
but no more, and as many dogs run their course and die in the
lifetime of one master, so did many of these slaves in that of
one of the Sons of Wisdom. Therefore, the slaves came to regard
When the World Shook |
