| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: "Want it for Jim to keep a journal on."
"Journal your granny -- JIM can't write."
"S'pose he CAN'T write -- he can make marks on
the shirt, can't he, if we make him a pen out of
an old pewter spoon or a piece of an old iron barrel-
hoop?"
"Why, Tom, we can pull a feather out of a goose
and make him a better one; and quicker, too."
"PRISONERS don't have geese running around the
donjon-keep to pull pens out of, you muggins. They
ALWAYS make their pens out of the hardest, toughest,
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Bowen Tyler and his bride had left the Galu country but a
fortnight before and that there was every reason to believe that
the Toreador might still be lying in the Pacific not far off
the subterranean mouth of the river which emitted Caprona's
heated waters into the ocean.
Late in the second day, after running through swarms of hideous
reptiles, they submerged at the point where the river entered
beneath the cliffs and shortly after rose to the sunlit surface
of the Pacific; but nowhere as far as they could see was sign of
another craft. Down the coast they steamed toward the beach
where Billings had made his crossing in the hydro-aeroplane and
Out of Time's Abyss |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: look--three words suffice--"
"Stop!" said Madame Cesar, taking the letter and burning it. "My son,
I am severely punished for a trifling error. You shall know all,
Anselme. I shall not allow a suspicion inspired by her mother to
injure my daughter; and besides, I can speak without blushing. What I
now tell you, I could tell my husband. Du Tillet wished to seduce me;
I informed my husband of it, and du Tillet was to have been dismissed.
On the very day my husband was about to send him away, he robbed us of
three thousand francs."
"I was sure of it!" said Popinot, expressing his hatred by the tones
of his voice.
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: to see that it was not warped, but straight and true, for neither
bow nor shaft should fail at such a time and for such a prize.
And never was such a company of yeomen as were gathered
at Nottingham Town that day, for the very best archers
of merry England had come to this shooting match.
There was Gill o' the Red Cap, the Sheriff's own head archer,
and Diccon Cruikshank of Lincoln Town, and Adam o' the Dell,
a man of Tamworth, of threescore years and more, yet hale
and lusty still, who in his time had shot in the famous match
at Woodstock, and had there beaten that renowned archer, Clym o'
the Clough. And many more famous men of the longbow were there,
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
