| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Summer by Edith Wharton: Charity followed him, and they stood before a mattress
on the floor in a corner of the room. A woman lay on
it, but she did not look like a dead woman; she seemed
to have fallen across her squalid bed in a drunken
sleep, and to have been left lying where she fell, in
her ragged disordered clothes. One arm was flung above
her head, one leg drawn up under a torn skirt that left
the other bare to the knee: a swollen glistening leg
with a ragged stocking rolled down about the ankle. The
woman lay on her back, her eyes staring up unblinkingly
at the candle that trembled in Mr. Miles's hand.
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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 Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: rushed off, under the guidance of the gardener's wife, to look at
the dreadful spot. Franz, the butler, had quite forgotten to
close the front gate in his excitement, and the housekeeper turned
to do it now.
"The fools, see them run," she exclaimed half aloud. "As if
there was anything for them to do there."
The gate closed, Mrs. Bernauer turned and walked slowly to the
house. Muller walked on also, going first to the police station
to report what he had discovered. Then he went to his own rooms
and slept until nearly noon. On his return to the police station
he found that notices of the occurrence had already been sent out
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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 The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: assault of the latest comer, be it hope, or despair, as some
mysterious power determines.
At three-and-twenty, diffidence nearly always rules a man's conduct;
he is perplexed with a young girl's shyness, a girl's trouble; he is
afraid lest he should express his love ill, sees nothing but
difficulties, and takes alarm at them; he would be bolder if he loved
less, for he has no confidence in himself, and with a growing sense of
the cost of happiness comes a conviction that the woman he loves
cannot easily be won; perhaps, too, he is giving himself up too
entirely to his own pleasure, and fears that he can give none; and
when, for his misfortune, his idol inspires him with awe, he worships
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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 Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: curve of the broken dome was above his head.
"Take him away. He dances like Mao the Peacock. He will
crush our young," said the cobras inside.
"Hah!" said Kaa with a chuckle, "he has friends everywhere,
this manling. Stand back, manling. And hide you, O Poison
People. I break down the wall."
Kaa looked carefully till he found a discolored crack in the
marble tracery showing a weak spot, made two or three light taps
with his head to get the distance, and then lifting up six feet of
his body clear of the ground, sent home half a dozen full-power
smashing blows, nose-first. The screen-work broke and fell away
The Jungle Book |
