Today's Stichomancy for Richard Burton
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Stagnant, lifeless, dreary, dismal,
Lighted by the shimmering moonlight,
And by will-o'-the-wisps illumined,
Fires by ghosts of dead men kindled,
In their weary night-encampments.
All the air was white with moonlight,
All the water black with shadow,
And around him the Suggema,
The mosquito, sang his war-song,
And the fire-flies, Wah-wah-taysee,
Waved their torches to mislead him;
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris: Why, it is almost every--you don't know how often we play."
"Condy, whenever you want to play, and will play with ME, no
matter what I've got in hand, I'll stop everything and play with
you."
"But why?"
"Because I think, Condy, that THIS way perhaps you won't play
quite so often at first; and then little by little perhaps--
perhaps--well, never mind that now. I want to play; put it that
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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 Desert Gold by Zane Grey: "I guess yes, old boy. That's what complicates it. Rojas and his
rebels have Casita in their hands. But Rojas without his rebels
would be able to stop me, get the girl, and make for his mountain
haunts. If Mercedes is really watched--if her identity is known,
which I am sure is the case--we couldn't get far from this house
before I'd be knifed and she seized."
"Good Heavens! Thorne, can that sort of thing happen less than a
stone's throw from the United States line?" asked Gale, incredulously.
"It can happen, and don't you forget it. You don't seem to realize
the power these guerrilla leaders, these rebel captains, and
particularly these bandits, exercise over the mass of Mexicans.
Desert Gold |
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 Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: muscles of his face which jealousy had made rigid. Seeing Soulanges,
however, still standing quite near the sofa on which Madame de
Vaudremont was seated, not apparently having understood the glance by
which the lady had conveyed to him that they were both playing a
ridiculous part, the volcanic Provencal again knit the black brows
that overshadowed his blue eyes, smoothed his chestnut curls to keep
himself in countenance, and without betraying the agitation which made
his heart beat, watched the faces of the Countess and of M. de
Soulanges while still chatting with his neighbors. He then took the
hand of Colonel Montcornet, who had just renewed their old
acquaintance, but he listened to him without hearing him; his mind was
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