| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: fell together, he reached his hand behind him and caught Silvertip's wrist.
Exerting all his power, he wrenched the Indian's arm so that it was not only
dislocated, but the bones cracked.
Silvertip saw his fatal mistake, but he uttered no sound. Crippled, though he
was, he yet made a supreme effort, but it was as if he had been in the hands
of a giant. The lad handled him with remorseless and resistless fury. Suddenly
he grasped the knife, which Silvertip had been unable to hold with his
crippled hand, and thrust it deeply into the Indian's side.
All Silvertip's muscles relaxed as if a strong tension had been removed.
Slowly his legs straightened, his arms dropped, and from his side gushed a
dark flood. A shadow crept over his face, not dark nor white, but just a
The Spirit of the Border |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: or to an actress of her acquaintance to try and get theatre
tickets.
If she did not find him at his studio she left a letter in which
she swore that if he did not come to see her that day she would
poison herself. He was scared, came to see her, and stayed to
dinner. Regardless of her husband's presence, he would say rude
things to her, and she would answer him in the same way. Both
felt they were a burden to each other, that they were tyrants and
enemies, and were wrathful, and in their wrath did not notice
that their behaviour was unseemly, and that even Korostelev, with
his close-cropped head, saw it all. After dinner Ryabovsky made
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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 The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: and colored prints of racing favorites.
"The studio is h'only open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays,"
explained the man--he referred to himself as "Jymes"--"but of
course we make exceptions in the case of pynters. Lydy Elling
Treffinger 'erself is on the Continent, but Sir 'Ugh's orders was
that pynters was to 'ave the run of the place." He selected a key
from his pocket and threw open the door into the studio which, like
the lodge, was built against the wall of the garden.
MacMaster entered a long, narrow room, built of smoothed
planks, painted a light green; cold and damp even on that fine
May morning. The room was utterly bare of furniture--unless a
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
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 Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: God.
Here, too, there was no faith nor Christ, and the virtue of
the absolution was not declared to him, but upon his
enumeration of sins and his self-abasement depended his
consolation. What torture, rascality, and idolatry such
confession has produced is more than can be related.
As to satisfaction, this is by far the most involved
[perplexing] part of all. For no man could know how much to
render for a single sin, not to say how much for all. Here
they have resorted to the device of imposing a small
satisfaction, which could indeed be rendered, as five
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