| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: And she laughed, because she was crying, too. And then she
did a surprising thing. She elbowed her way to the edge of
the crowd, past the red-faced man with the cigar, out to the
street, and fell into line, and marched on up the street,
shoulders squared, head high.
Fanny glanced down at her watch. It was quarter after four.
With a little gasp she turned to work her way through the
close-packed crowd. It was an actual physical struggle,
from which she emerged disheveled, breathless, uncomfortably
warm, and minus her handkerchief, but she had gained the
comparative quiet of the side street, and she made the short
Fanny Herself |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: star maps which are probably quite inaccurate."
"They are not inaccurate," I broke in, "for I have had them
checked by leading astronomers who say that they show a
marvelous knowledge of the heavens as these were two hundred and
fifty thousand years ago, and are today."
Here I should state that those two metal maps and the ring
which I gave to Yva and found again after the catastrophe, were
absolutely the only things connected with her or with Oro that we
brought away with us. The former I would never part with, feeling
their value as evidence. Therefore, when we descended to the city
Nyo and the depths beneath, I took them with me wrapped in cloth
When the World Shook |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: Palazzo Vanderlyn, and the great painted bedroom where she had
met her doom.
Mrs. Match, hoping she would find everything, and mentioning
that dinner was not till nine, shut her softly in among her
terrors.
"Find everything?" Susy echoed the phrase. Oh, yes, she would
always find everything: every time the door shut on her now,
and the sound of voices ceased, her memories would be there
waiting for her, every one of them, waiting quietly, patiently,
obstinately, like poor people in a doctor's office, the people
who are always last to be attended to, but whom nothing will
|
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 When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: loved Tommy and for his sake had spared our lives. Lastly, I do
not altogether wonder that he came to certain hasty conclusions
as to the value of our modern civilisations.
"I am very glad to hear it, Humphrey, since while there is a
spark left the whole fire may burn up again, and I believe that
to the Divine mercy there are no limits, though Oro will have a
long road to travel before he finds it. And now I have something
to say. It has troubled me very much that I was obliged to leave
those Orofenans wandering in a kind of religious twilight."
"You couldn't help that," said Bickley, "seeing that if you had
stopped, by now you would have been wandering in religious
When the World Shook |
