| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: Henry Morgan in the West Indies would stand as follows: Panama,
$1,500,000; Porto Bello, $800,000; Puerto del Principe, $700,000;
Maracaibo and Gibraltar, $400,000; various piracies,
$250,000--making a grand total of $3,650,000 as the vast harvest
of plunder. With this fabulous wealth, wrenched from the
Spaniards by means of the rack and the cord, and pilfered from
his companions by the meanest of thieving, Capt. Henry Morgan
retired from business, honored of all, rendered famous by his
deeds, knighted by the good King Charles II, and finally
appointed governor of the rich island of Jamaica.
Other buccaneers followed him. Campeche was taken and sacked,
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: on Tuesday evening, had been authoritatively told that there had
been a violent quarrel between Mr. and Mrs. Inglethorp. No
suspicion had entered the prisoner's head that anyone could
possibly have mistaken his voice for that of Mr. Inglethorp. He
naturally concluded that his stepmother had had two quarrels.
The prosecution averred that on Monday, July 16th, the prisoner
had entered the chemist's shop in the village, disguised as Mr.
Inglethorp. The prisoner, on the contrary, was at that time at a
lonely spot called Marston's Spinney, where he had been summoned
by an anonymous note, couched in blackmailing terms, and
threatening to reveal certain matters to his wife unless he
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: blinding light flashed from the whirling, inky clouds above.
The deep cannonade of roaring thunder belched forth its fearsome
challenge. The deluge came--all hell broke loose upon the jungle.
The tribe shivering from the cold rain, huddled at the bases
of great trees. The lightning, darting and flashing through the
blackness, showed wildly waving branches, whipping streamers
and bending trunks.
Now and again some ancient patriarch of the woods, rent
by a flashing bolt, would crash in a thousand pieces among
the surrounding trees, carrying down numberless branches
and many smaller neighbors to add to the tangled confusion
Tarzan of the Apes |
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 Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: share of feminine curiosity.
M. de Chatelet--he began life as plain Sixte Chatelet, but since 1806
had the wit to adopt the particle--M. du Chatelet was one of the
agreeable young men who escaped conscription after conscription by
keeping very close to the Imperial sun. He had begun his career as
private secretary to an Imperial Highness, a post for which he
possessed every qualification. Personable and of a good figure, a
clever billiard-player, a passable amateur actor, he danced well, and
excelled in most physical exercises; he could, moreover, sing a ballad
and applaud a witticism. Supple, envious, never at a loss, there was
nothing that he did not know--nothing that he really knew. He knew
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