| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: he lay beautifully staring. "My uncle must come down,
and you must completely settle things."
"If we do," I returned with some spirit, "you may be sure it
will be to take you quite away."
"Well, don't you understand that that's exactly what I'm working for?
You'll have to tell him--about the way you've let it all drop:
you'll have to tell him a tremendous lot!"
The exultation with which he uttered this helped
me somehow, for the instant, to meet him rather more.
"And how much will YOU, Miles, have to tell him?
There are things he'll ask you!"
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: "I had, of course, noticed it; but I had not mentioned it to Ethel. 'I
read the papers now,' she explained, 'morning and evening. Of course the
market is off a little on account of the bank statement. But that is not
enough to account for the Petunias.'"
"'Ethel, you are nervous,' I said. 'And it is the papers which make you
so. The Petunias are a first lien on the whole property, of which the
assessed valuation--'"
"'What is the good,' she interrupted, 'of a first lien on something which
depends on politics for its existence, if the politicians change their
minds? Did you not see that bill they're thinking of passing?' I was
startled by what Ethel told me, for the article in the paper had escaped
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The soldiers were circling the building. Already he could
hear them nearing his position. In another moment they
would round the corner of the building and be upon him.
For an instant he contemplated a bold rush for the fence. In
fact, he had gathered himself for the leaping start and the
quick sprint across the open under the noses of the soldiers
who still remained beside the dying ghoul, when his mind
suddenly reverted to the manhole beneath his feet. Here
lay a hiding place, at least until the soldiers had departed.
Barney stooped and raised the heavy lid, sliding it to one
side. How deep was the black chasm beneath he could not
The Mad King |
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 Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: to keep in health and contentment two priests; namely, Monsieur l'Abbe
Troubert and Monsieur l'Abbe Chapeloud. The Abbe Troubert still lived.
The Abbe Chapeloud was dead; and Birotteau had stepped into his place.
The late Abbe Chapeloud, in life a canon of Saint-Gatien, had been an
intimate friend of the Abbe Birotteau. Every time that the latter paid
a visit to the canon he had constantly admired the apartment, the
furniture and the library. Out of this admiration grew the desire to
possess these beautiful things. It had been impossible for the Abbe
Birotteau to stifle this desire; though it often made him suffer
terribly when he reflected that the death of his best friend could
alone satisfy his secret covetousness, which increased as time went
|
