| 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: Hollow, full of the importance and hurry of his mission.
All was now bustle and hubbub in the late quiet schoolroom.
The scholars were hurried through their lessons without stopping
at trifles; those who were nimble skipped over half with
impunity, and those who were tardy had a smart application now
and then in the rear, to quicken their speed or help them over a
tall word. Books were flung aside without being put away on the
shelves, inkstands were overturned, benches thrown down, and the
whole school was turned loose an hour before the usual time,
bursting forth like a legion of young imps, yelping and racketing
about the green in joy at their early emancipation.
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 The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: which is so much of the strength of the line lost for want of first
watering it, and then re-twisting it; and this is most visible in a seven-
hair line, one of those which hath always a black hair in the middle.
And for dyeing of your hairs, do it thus: take a pint of strong ale, half a
pound of soot, and a little quantity of the juice of walnut-tree leaves,
and an equal quantity of alum: put these together into a pot, pan, or
pipkin, and boil them half an hour; and having so done, let it cool; and
being cold, put your hair into it, and there let it lie; it will turn your hair
to be a kind of water or glass colour, or greenish; and the longer you let
it lie, the deeper coloured it will be. You might be taught to make many
other colours, but it is to little purpose; for doubtless the water-colour
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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 Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: and threw him on the pallet before their leader, who stood motionless
and thoughtful.
Tristan looked silently at the prisoner's hands, then he said to
Cornelius, pointing to them:--
"Those are not the hands of a beggar, nor of an apprentice. He is a
noble."
"Say a thief!" cried the torconnier. "My good Tristan, noble or serf,
he has ruined me, the villain! I want to see his feet warmed in your
pretty boots. He is, I don't doubt it, the leader of that gang of
devils, visible and invisible, who know all my secrets, open my locks,
rob me, murder me! They have grown rich out of me, Tristan. Ha! this
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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 The Young Forester by Zane Grey: an air of suppressed excitement; there was a glow on his face and a kind of
daring flash in his eyes. He seemed too eager, too glad to see me.
"I've got a good job for you," he went on, glibly. "jest what you want, an'
you're jest what I need. Come into my office an' help me. There'll be
plenty of outside work--measurin' lumber, markin' trees, an' such."
"Why, Mr. Buell--I--you see, Dick--he might not--"
I hesitated, not knowing how to proceed. But at my halting speech Buell
became even more smiling and voluble.
"Dick? Oh, Dick an' I stand all right; take thet from me. Dick'll agree to
what I want. I need a young feller bad. Money's no object. You're a bright
youngster. You'll look out for my interests. Here!" He pulled out a large
The Young Forester |
