| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: solemn eyes looking past him on the great, still forests sleeping
in majestic repose to the murmur of the broad river. He accepted
the situation, happy in the gentle and protecting affection the
girl showed him, fitfully enough, for she had, as she called it,
her bad days when she used to visit her mother and remain long
hours in the riverside hut, coming out as inscrutable as ever,
but with a contemptuous look and a short word ready to answer any
of his speeches. He got used even to that, and on those days
kept quiet, although greatly alarmed by his wife's influence upon
the girl. Otherwise Nina adapted herself wonderfully to the
circumstances of a half-savage and miserable life. She accepted
Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Leaving the grove where they had slept, the Frogman and the Cookie
Cook turned to the east to seek another house, and after a short walk
came to one where the people received them very politely. The
children stared rather hard at the big, pompous Frogman, but the woman
of the house, when Cayke asked for something to eat, at once brought
them food and said they were welcome to it. "Few people in need of
help pass this way," she remarked, "for the Winkies are all prosperous
and love to stay in their own homes. But perhaps you are not a
Winkie," she added.
"No," said Cayke, "I am a Yip, and my home is on a high mountain at
the southeast of your country."
The Lost Princess of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Faith of Men by Jack London: And as she turned her face toward his with a sudden joyful flash,
he bent forward, slowly and gravely, as it were a sacred thing, and
kissed her on the lips. The Toyaats had never taught her the
meaning of a kiss upon the lips, but she understood and was glad.
With the coming of Jees Uck, at once things brightened up. She was
regal in her happiness, a source of unending delight. The
elemental workings of her mind and her naive little ways made an
immense sum of pleasurable surprise to the over-civilized man that
had stooped to catch her up. Not alone was she solace to his
loneliness, but her primitiveness rejuvenated his jaded mind. It
was as though, after long wandering, he had returned to pillow his
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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 Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: or else a servant out of livery follows her at a distance of ten
yards. She displays no gaudy colors, no open-worked stockings, no
over-elaborate waist-buckle, no embroidered frills to her drawers
fussing round her ankles. You will see that she is shod with prunella
shoes, with sandals crossed over extremely fine cotton stockings, or
plain gray silk stockings; or perhaps she wears boots of the most
exquisite simplicity. You notice that her gown is made of a neat and
inexpensive material, but made in a way that surprises more than one
woman of the middle class; it is almost always a long pelisse, with
bows to fasten it, and neatly bound with fine cord or an imperceptible
braid. The Unknown has a way of her own in wrapping herself in her
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