| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling: '"Only half owner, but the cargo's mine."
'"That's bad," he says. "I'll do what I can, but you shouldn't
have fought us."
'"Steve," I says, "you aren't ever going to report our little
fall-out as a fight! Why, a Revenue cutter 'ud laugh at it!"
'"So'd I if I wasn't in the Republican Navy," he says. "But two
of our men are dead, d'ye see, and I'm afraid I'll have to take you
to the Prize Court at Le Havre."
'"Will they condemn my 'baccy?" I asks.
'"To the last ounce. But I was thinking more of the ship. She'd
make a sweet little craft for the Navy if the Prize Court 'ud let me
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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 Underground City by Jules Verne: of him and the date on which he left Edinburgh; nothing more
could be done but to wait. The time passed in great anxiety.
The scientific world of England was inclined to believe that one
of its most distinguished members had positively disappeared.
At the same time, when so many people were thinking about
James Starr, Harry Ford was the subject of no less anxiety.
Only, instead of occupying public attention, the son of the old
overman was the cause of trouble alone to the generally cheerful
mind of Jack Ryan.
It may be remembered that, in their encounter in the Yarrow shaft,
Jack Ryan had invited Harry to come a week afterwards to the festivities
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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 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: by a slight clue, I followed the windings of the Rhone, but vainly.
The blue Mediterranean appeared, and by a strange chance, I saw the
fiend enter by night and hide himself in a vessel bound for the
Black Sea. I took my passage in the same ship, but he escaped,
I know not how.
Amidst the wilds of Tartary and Russia, although he still evaded me,
I have ever followed in his track. Sometimes the peasants, scared
by this horrid apparition, informed me of his path; sometimes he himself,
who feared that if I lost all trace of him I should despair and die,
left some mark to guide me. The snows descended on my head,
and I saw the print of his huge step on the white plain.
Frankenstein |
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 Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: said to the second youth, "here is another coin. What should I do
with it?"
The second youth, feeling shrewd, answered, "Throw it into the sea."
But the wise man said, "That would be a careless waste. To
follow a bad example only because it is an example is folly. Better
than throwing this money away would be to give it to the poor." And
he gave the money to a beggar sitting nearby. "I have one last
coin," the wise man went on, talking to the third youth. "What
shall I do with it?"
The third youth had been paying attention, and, thinking he
would get the money if he avoided the greed and wastefulness implied
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