| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what
could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me
half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She
pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob
heavily into it.
"I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and
I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the
weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind
dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel
vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life."
"Then you don't think I'll see him again?"
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: for a quarter of a mile. On one side rose the huge bulk of the mountain. On
the other side the steep wall of the canyon fell away in impossible slopes and
sheer drops to the torrent at the bottom. It was an abyss of green beauty and
shady depths, pierced by vagrant shafts of the sun and mottled here and there
by the sun's broader blazes. The sound of rushing water ascended on the
windless air, and there was a hum of mountain bees.
The horses broke into an easy lope. Chris rock on the outside, looking down
into the great depths and pleasuring with his eyes in what he saw.
Dissociating itself from the murmur of the bees, a murmur arose of falling
water. It grew louder with every stride of the horses.
"Look!" he cried.
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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 Captain Stormfield by Mark Twain: and ancient British, Irish, and Gaelic; and then back of these come
billions and billions of pure savages that talk a gibberish that
Satan himself couldn't understand. The fact is, where you strike
one man in the English settlements that you can understand, you
wade through awful swarms that talk something you can't make head
nor tail of. You see, every country on earth has been overlaid so
often, in the course of a billion years, with different kinds of
people and different sorts of languages, that this sort of mongrel
business was bound to be the result in heaven."
"Sandy," says I, "did you see a good many of the great people
history tells about?"
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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 Young Forester by Zane Grey: part of the descent I mounted him. Then I needed no longer to urge him. The
fire had entered the canyon, the hollow roar swept up and filled Target
with the same fright that possessed me. He plunged down, slid on his
haunches, jumped the logs, crashed through brush. I had continually to rein
him toward the camp. He wanted to turn from that hot wind and strange roar.
We reached a level, the open, stony ground, then the pool. The pack-ponies
were standing patiently with drooping heads. The sun was obscured in thin
blue haze. Smoke and dust and ashes blew by with the wind. I put Target's
nose down to the water, so that he would drink. Then I cut packs off the
ponies, spilled the contents, and filled my pockets with whatever I could
lay my hands on in the way of eatables. I hung a canteen on the pommel, and
The Young Forester |
