| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: had brought him in contact with the sinister genius of the Yellow Movement.
His talk was rather of the sunshine of the East than of its shadows.
But the drive concluded--and all too soon. In a silence which neither
of us seemed disposed to break, we entered the police depot, and followed
an officer who received us into the room where Weymouth waited.
The inspector greeted us briefly, nodding toward the table.
"Poor Cadby, the most promising lad at the Yard," he said;
and his usually gruff voice had softened strangely.
Smith struck his right fist into the palm of his left hand and swore
under his breath, striding up and down the neat little room.
No one spoke for a moment, and in the silence I could hear the whispering
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: cutting his foot and making him most liable to stumble and fall.
Whether the man was partly blind or only very careless I can't say,
but he drove me with that stone in my foot for a good half-mile
before he saw anything. By that time I was going so lame with the pain
that at last he saw it, and called out, "Well, here's a go! Why,
they have sent us out with a lame horse! What a shame!"
He then chucked the reins and flipped about with the whip, saying,
"Now, then, it's no use playing the old soldier with me;
there's the journey to go, and it's no use turning lame and lazy."
Just at this time a farmer came riding up on a brown cob.
He lifted his hat and pulled up.
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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 Macbeth by William Shakespeare: The Lords anoynted Temple, and stole thence
The Life o'th' Building
Macb. What is't you say, the Life?
Lenox. Meane you his Maiestie?
Macd. Approch the Chamber, and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon. Doe not bid me speake:
See, and then speake your selues: awake, awake,
Exeunt. Macbeth and Lenox.
Ring the Alarum Bell: Murther, and Treason,
Banquo, and Donalbaine: Malcolme awake,
Shake off this Downey sleepe, Deaths counterfeit,
Macbeth |
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 Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: him upon the shoulder, and he sprang up quickly. It was Gascoyne.
"What is to do, Myles?" said his friend, anxiously. "What is all
this talk I hear concerning thee up yonder at the armory?"
"Oh, Francis!" cried Myles, with a husky choking voice: "I am to
be knighted--by the King--by the King himself; and I--I am to
fight the Sieur de la Montaigne."
He reached out his hand, and Gascoyne took it. They stood for a
while quite silent, and when at last the stillness was broken, it
was Gascoyne who spoke, in a choking voice.
"Thou art going to be great, Myles," said he. "I always knew that
it must be so with thee, and now the time hath come. Yea, thou
Men of Iron |
