| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: the reins and settled back into his own element.
"You see, I think I'd better tell you something about my
sister before you see her, and I don't know just where to begin.
She traveled in Europe with your brother and his wife, and sang
at a lot of his concerts; but I don't know just how much you know
about her."
"Very little, except that my brother always thought her the
most gifted of his pupils, and that when I knew her she was very
young and very beautiful and turned my head sadly for a while."
Everett saw that Gaylord's mind was quite engrossed by his
grief. He was wrought up to the point where his reserve and
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: And indeed Muller was entirely changed. In actuality small and
thin, with sparse brown hair and smooth shaven face, he was now an
inch or two taller and very much stouter. He wore thick curly blond
hair, a little pointed blond beard and moustache. His eyes were
hidden by heavy-rimmed spectacles.
It was just half-past five when he rang the bell at the entrance
gate to the Thorne property. He had spent the intervening time in
the caf‚, as he was in no hurry to enter the house. Franz came down
the path and opened the door. "'What do you want?" he asked.
"I come from Siemens & Halske; I was to ask whether the other man - "
"Has been here already?" interrupted Franz, adding in an irritated
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: clustered. They were back to back, and bodies lay, and blood
flowed among their feet. The hue of fear was on all their faces;
their voices went up to heaven shrill as a weasel's cry.
Have you seen a child when he is all alone and has a wooden sword,
and fights, leaping and hewing with the empty air? Even so the
man-eaters huddled back to back, and heaved up their axes, and laid
on, and screamed as they laid on, and behold! no man to contend
with them! only here and there Keola saw an axe swinging over
against them without hands; and time and again a man of the tribe
would fall before it, clove in twain or burst asunder, and his soul
sped howling.
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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 Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: longitudes of Paris; you will meet her between the 10th and 110th
Arcade of the Rue de Rivoli; along the line of the Boulevards from the
equator of the Passage des Panoramas, where the products of India
flourish, where the warmest creations of industry are displayed, to
the Cape of the Madeleine; in the least muddy districts of the citizen
quarters, between No. 30 and No. 130 of the Rue du Faubourg Saint-
Honore. During the winter, she haunts the terrace of the Feuillants,
but not the asphalt pavement that lies parallel. According to the
weather, she may be seen flying in the Avenue of the Champs-Elysees,
which is bounded on the east by the Place Louis XV., on the west by
the Avenue de Marigny, to the south by the road, to the north by the
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