| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: And let the worms be its biographers.
Song sloughs away the sin to find redress
In art's complete remembrance: nothing clings
For long but laurel to the stricken brow
That felt the Muse's finger; nothing less
Than hell's fulfilment of the end of things
Can blot the star that shines on Paris now.
Sonnet
When we can all so excellently give
The measure of love's wisdom with a blow, --
Why can we not in turn receive it so,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: "Come down here! Come down, or I'll shoot!" shouted the fellow,
flourishing his revolver.
Rob was afraid he would; so, to avoid accidents, he pointed the tube
at him and pressed the button. The red-whiskered policeman keeled
over quite gracefully and fell across the body of the dog, while Rob
continued to mount upward until he was out of sight of those
in the streets.
"That was a narrow escape," he thought, breathing more freely.
"I hated to paralyze that policeman, but he might have sent a
bullet after me. Anyhow, he'll be all right again in an hour,
so I needn't worry."
The Master Key |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Animal Farm by George Orwell: first objected, since it seemed to them that they also had two legs, but
Snowball proved to them that this was not so.
"A bird's wing, comrades," he said, "is an organ of propulsion and not of
manipulation. It should therefore be regarded as a leg. The distinguishing
mark of man is the HAND, the instrument with which he does all his
mischief."
The birds did not understand Snowball's long words, but they accepted his
explanation, and all the humbler animals set to work to learn the new
maxim by heart. FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD, was inscribed on the end
wall of the barn, above the Seven Commandments and in bigger letters When
they had once got it by heart, the sheep developed a great liking for this
Animal Farm |
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 Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: assault with intent to commit murder, and it was proved that he had
been variously obstreperous without apparent provocation, had
affected the peripheries of several luckless fellow-citizens with
the trunk of a small tree, and subsequently cleaned out the town.
While trying to palliate these misdeeds, the defendant's Attorney
turned suddenly to the Judge, saying:
"Did your Honour ever lose your temper?"
"I fine you twenty-five dollars for contempt of court!" roared the
Judge, in wrath. "How dare you mention the loss of my temper in
connection with this case?"
After a moment's silence the Attorney said, meekly:
Fantastic Fables |
