| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: was universally known by the name of Major Andre's tree. The
common people regarded it with a mixture of respect and
superstition, partly out of sympathy for the fate of its ill-
starred namesake, and partly from the tales of strange sights,
and doleful lamentations, told concerning it.
As Ichabod approached this fearful tree, he began to
whistle; he thought his whistle was answered; it was but a blast
sweeping sharply through the dry branches. As he approached a
little nearer, he thought he saw something white, hanging in the
midst of the tree: he paused, and ceased whistling but, on
looking more narrowly, perceived that it was a place where the
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and as the day of launching approached I was positive of
it.
We had built her upon a low bank of the river close
to where it emptied into the sea, and just above high
tide. Her keel we had laid upon several rollers cut from
small trees, the ends of the rollers in turn resting upon
parallel tracks of long saplings. Her stern was toward the
water.
A few hours before we were ready to launch her she
made quite an imposing picture, for Perry had insisted
upon setting every shred of "canvas." I told him that I
Pellucidar |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: 'My grandfather has deceived me.' But now, enlightened by all you
have taught me, I am inclined to think he himself is deceived.
I mean to return to the secret passages I formerly frequented
with him. He is certain to be on the watch. I will call to him;
he will hear me, and who knows but that, by returning to him,
I may be able to bring him to the knowledge of the truth?"
The maiden spoke without interruption, for all felt that it
was good for her to open her whole heart to her friends.
But when, exhausted by emotion, and with eyes full of tears,
she ceased speaking, Harry turned to old Madge and said,
"Mother, what should you think of the man who could forsake
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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 Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: but let it be what it would, the honest gentleman bore it for many years
without a murmur, till at length, by repeated ill accidents of the kind, he
found it necessary to take the thing under consideration; and upon weighing
the whole, and summing it up in his mind, he found it not only
disproportioned to his other expences, but withal so heavy an article in
itself, as to disable him from any other act of generosity in his parish:
Besides this, he considered that with half the sum thus galloped away, he
could do ten times as much good;--and what still weighed more with him than
all other considerations put together, was this, that it confined all his
charity into one particular channel, and where, as he fancied, it was the
least wanted, namely, to the child-bearing and child-getting part of his
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