| 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: Silently Smith stared out at the distant moving lights.
"Karamaneh merely means a slave," he said irrelevantly.
I made no comment.
"There's the hulk," he added.
The bank upon which we stood dipped in mud slopes to the level
of the running tide. Seaward it rose higher, and by a narrow inlet--
for we perceived that we were upon a kind of promontory--
a rough pier showed. Beneath it was a shadowy shape in the patch
of gloom which the moon threw far out upon the softly eddying water.
Only one dim light was visible amid this darkness.
"That will be the cabin," said Smith.
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 Alcibiades I by Plato: Odysseus.
ALCIBIADES: Very true.
SOCRATES: And when the Athenians and Lacedaemonians and Boeotians fell at
Tanagra, and afterwards in the battle of Coronea, at which your father
Cleinias met his end, the question was one of justice--this was the sole
cause of the battles, and of their deaths.
ALCIBIADES: Very true.
SOCRATES: But can they be said to understand that about which they are
quarrelling to the death?
ALCIBIADES: Clearly not.
SOCRATES: And yet those whom you thus allow to be ignorant are the
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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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: importance of the case), for conferences with So-and-so, and expenses,
and drafts, and memorials, and your jargon. A man must learn to look
out for business of this kind. I will recommend you as a most
competent, clever attorney. I will send you such a lot of work of this
sort that your colleagues will be fit to burst with envy. Werbrust,
Palma, and Gigonnet, my cronies, shall hand over their expropriations
to you; they have plenty of them, the Lord knows! So you will have two
practices--the one you are buying, and the other I will build up for
you. You ought almost to pay me fifteen per cent on my loan.'
" 'So be it, but no more,' said I, with the firmness which means that
a man is determined not to concede another point.
Gobseck |
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 Adventure by Jack London: has gone out of fashion. Now let us see to your injuries."
"You only got me that last," Tudor grunted sullenly, "lying in
ambush like--"
"Like a wild Indian. Precisely. You've caught the idea, old man."
Sheldon ceased his mocking and stood up. "You lie there quietly
until I send back some of the boys to carry you in. You're not
seriously hurt, and it's lucky for you I didn't follow your
example. If you had been struck with one of your own bullets, a
carriage and pair would have been none too large to drive through
the hole it would have made. As it is, you're drilled clean--a
nice little perforation. All you need is antiseptic washing and
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