| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: commanded me to sit down at some distance (an honour which he had
never before conferred upon me). He said, "he had been very
seriously considering my whole story, as far as it related both
to myself and my country; that he looked upon us as a sort of
animals, to whose share, by what accident he could not
conjecture, some small pittance of reason had fallen, whereof we
made no other use, than by its assistance, to aggravate our
natural corruptions, and to acquire new ones, which nature had
not given us; that we disarmed ourselves of the few abilities she
had bestowed; had been very successful in multiplying our
original wants, and seemed to spend our whole lives in vain
Gulliver's Travels |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: house had a public passage through it, with a shop below and no
doorkeeper, Lydie lived there without a fear. The dining-room, the
little drawing-room, and her bedroom--every window-balcony a hanging
garden--were luxurious in their Dutch cleanliness.
The Flemish nurse had never left Lydie, whom she called her daughter.
The two went to church with a regularity that gave the royalist
grocer, who lived below, in the corner shop, an excellent opinion of
the worthy Canquoelle. The grocer's family, kitchen, and counter-
jumpers occupied the first floor and the entresol; the landlord
inhabited the second floor; and the third had been let for twenty
years past to a lapidary. Each resident had a key of the street door.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: hand. An officer stood between them with a drawn sword fronting
the terrified child. He was a horrible, coarse-faced man who
looked to me as though he had been drinking.
"I'll teach the young devil to show us the wrong road and let
those French swine escape," he shouted, and struck with the
sword. The girl's right hand fell to the ground.
"War as practised by the Germans!" remarked Oro. Then he
stepped, or seemed to step up to the man and whispered, or seemed
to whisper, in his ear.
I do not know what tongue or what spirit speech he used, or
what he said, but the bloated-faced brute turned pale. Yes, he
When the World Shook |
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 Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: "It's this way," he said, "so far, we've only seen the case from
the outside. That's where the Yard's at a disadvantage in a case
of this kind, where the murder's only out, so to speak, after the
inquest. A lot depends on being on the spot first thing, and
that's where Mr. Poirot's had the start of us. We shouldn't have
been here as soon as this even, if it hadn't been for the fact
that there was a smart doctor on the spot, who gave us the tip
through the Coroner. But you've been on the spot from the first,
and you may have picked up some little hints. From the evidence
at the inquest, Mr. Inglethorp murdered his wife as sure as I
stand here, and if anyone but you hinted the contrary I'd laugh
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
