| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: couple were learning to reconcile themselves to the sin which they
had committed. But they were to learn, now, that a sin takes on new
and real terrors when there seems a chance that it is going to be
found out. This gives it a fresh and most substantial and important
aspect. At church the morning sermon was of the usual pattern; it
was the same old things said in the same old way; they had heard
them a thousand times and found them innocuous, next to meaningless,
and easy to sleep under; but now it was different: the sermon
seemed to bristle with accusations; it seemed aimed straight and
specially at people who were concealing deadly sins. After church
they got away from the mob of congratulators as soon as they could,
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: cocoanut filled with oil, where a cotton rag floated for a wick,
stood on the floor, surrounding her with a ruddy halo of light
shining through the black and odorous smoke. Mrs. Almayer's back
was bent, and her head and shoulders hidden in the deep box. Her
hands rummaged in the interior, where a soft clink as of silver
money could be heard. She did not notice at first her daughter's
approach, and Nina, standing silently by her, looked down on many
little canvas bags ranged in the bottom of the chest, wherefrom
her mother extracted handfuls of shining guilders and Mexican
dollars, letting them stream slowly back again through her
claw-like fingers. The music of tinkling silver seemed to
Almayer's Folly |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: Coregos.
Great was the astonishment of King Gos and his
warriors when they saw that the mighty Prince of
Pingaree, who had put them all to flight, had been
captured by a woman. Cowards as they were, they now
crowded around the boy and jeered at him, and some of
them would have struck him had not the Queen cried out:
"Hands off! He is my prisoner, remember not yours."
"Well, Cor, what are you going to do with him?"
inquired King Gos.
"I shall make him my slave, that he may amuse my idle
Rinkitink In Oz |
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 A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: something in her belt, the corner of a little note thrust sidewise
into it; but I did not need that indication to tell me that Tullia's
fantastic conduct was referable to occult causes. Woman, in my
opinion, is the most logical of created beings, the child alone
excepted. In both we behold a sublime phenomenon, the unvarying
triumph of one dominant, all-excluding thought. The child's thought
changes every moment; but while it possesses him, he acts upon it with
such ardor that others give way before him, fascinated by the
ingenuity, the persistence of a strong desire. Woman is less
changeable, but to call her capricious is a stupid insult. Whenever
she acts, she is always swayed by one dominant passion; and wonderful
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