Today's Stichomancy for Chow Yun Fat

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke:

worth while, that's my motto--nothing that does not bring the reward. Oh, now I recall the text, 'Verily I say unto you they have their reward.' I shall ask Doctor Snodgrass to preach a sermon on that verse some day."

"Using you as an illustration?"

"Well, not exactly that; but I could give him some good materials from my own experience to prove the truth of Scripture. I can honestly say that

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tanach:

Job 38: 35 Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee: 'Here we are'?

Job 38: 36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who hath given understanding to the mind?

Job 38: 37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,

Job 38: 38 When the dust runneth into a mass, and the clods cleave fast together?

Job 38: 39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lioness? Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

Job 38: 40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?

Job 38: 41 Who provideth for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry unto God, and wander for lack of food?

Job 39: 1 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

Job 39: 2 Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? Or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

Job 39: 3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young, they cast out their fruit.

Job 39: 4 Their young ones wax strong, they grow up in the open field; they go forth, and return not again.

The Tanach

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri:

leader of the Ghibelline forces. It is unnecessary to point out the imitation of the Apocalypse in the manner of this prophecy.

v. 50. The Naiads.] Dante, it is observed, has been led into a mistake by a corruption in the text of Ovid's Metam. I. vii. 75, where he found- Carmina Naiades non intellecta priorum;

instead of Carmina Laiades, &c. as it has been since corrected. Lombardi refers to Pansanias, where "the Nymphs" are spoken of as expounders of oracles for a vindication of the poet's accuracy. Should the reader blame me for not departing from the error of the original (if error it be), he may substitute

The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary)

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 Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain:

all eyes were fastened upon Wilson's face. He waited yet one, two, three moments, to let his pause complete and perfect its spell upon the house; then, when through the profound hush he could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall, he put out his hand and took the Indian knife by the blade and held it aloft where all could see the sinister spots upon its ivory handle; then he said, in a level and passionless voice:

"Upon this haft stands the assassin's natal autograph, written in the blood of that helpless and unoffending old man who loved you and whom you all loved. There is but one man in the whole earth whose hand can duplicate that crimson sign"--