| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: sprang up, his face flushing deeply as he leaned over the desk
staring at the sad quiet face of the little man opposite. "What
are you talking about? What does all this mean?"
"It means, sir, that we now know who committed the murder in
Hietzing. Johann Knoll is innocent of anything more than the theft
confessed by himself. He took the purse and watch from the
senseless form of the just murdered man. The body was warm and
still supple and the tramp supposed the victim to be merely
intoxicated. His story was in every respect true, sir."
The commissioner flushed still deeper. "And who do you say murdered
this man?"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: GENEROUS, adj. Originally this word meant noble by birth and was
rightly applied to a great multitude of persons. It now means noble
by nature and is taking a bit of a rest.
GENEALOGY, n. An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did
not particularly care to trace his own.
GENTEEL, adj. Refined, after the fashion of a gent.
Observe with care, my son, the distinction I reveal:
A gentleman is gentle and a gent genteel.
Heed not the definitions your "Unabridged" presents,
For dictionary makers are generally gents.
G.J.
The Devil's Dictionary |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: growled at Hughie.
Now, Hughie was a tenderfoot, and in his knowledge of outdoor
life he was still an infant. "I didn't know--" he was beginning,
when his master cut him short with a furious tongue lashing out
of all proportion to the offense.
The lad's face blanched with fear, and his terror was so manifest
that the bully, who was threatening him with all manner of evils,
began to enjoy himself. Chalkeye, returning from watering the
horses, got back in time to hear the intemperate fag-end of the
scolding. He glanced at Hughie, whose hands were trembling in
spite of him, and then darkly at the brute who was attacking him.
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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 A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: but found nothing except two chalices, and some relics of so little
value that we redeemed them for six sequins. As I had given them my
chalice upon their first demand, they did not search me, but gave us
to understand that they expected to find something of greater value,
which either we must have hidden or the Abyssins must have imposed
on them. They left us the rest of the day at a gentleman's house,
who was our friend, from whence the next day they fetched us to
transport us to the island, where they put us into a kind of prison,
with a view of terrifying us into a confession of the place where we
had hid our gold, in which, however, they found themselves deceived.
But I had here another affair upon my hands which was near costing
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