| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: act, I suppose, as witness; Mrs. Hanson, in her Sunday best;
and all the children, from the oldest to the youngest; -
arrived in a procession, tailing one behind another up the
path. Caliban was absent, but he had been chary of his
friendly visits since the row; and with that exception, the
whole family was gathered together as for a marriage or a
christening. Strong was sitting at work, in the shade of the
dwarf madronas near the forge; and they planted themselves
about him in a circle, one on a stone, another on the waggon
rails, a third on a piece of plank. Gradually the children
stole away up the canyon to where there was another chute,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: secure a National political convention for his city suffered
acutely from dejection. While in that frame of mind he leaned
thoughtlessly against a druggist's show-window, wherein were one
hundred and fifty kinds of assorted snakes. The glass breaking,
the reptiles all escaped into the street.
"When you can't do what you wish," said the Public-spirited
Citizen, "it is worth while to do what you can."
Fortune and the Fabulist
A WRITER of Fables was passing through a lonely forest when he met
a Fortune. Greatly alarmed, he tried to climb a tree, but the
Fortune pulled him down and bestowed itself upon him with cruel
Fantastic Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: he has related to you) on the subject of my doubts and fears as to the
violence done to Mademoiselle de Lanty, and she has promised that in
course of time she will discover the convent in which Marianina is a
prisoner. The worthy Mother, if she takes this into her head, is
almost certain to succeed in finding the original of her Saint-Ursula.
I am not feeling at all easy in mind about Marie-Gaston. He seems to
me in a state of feverish agitation, partly created by the immense
interest he takes in my success. But I greatly fear that his efforts
will result in a serious reaction. His own grief, which at this moment
he is repressing, has not in reality lost its sting. Have you not been
struck by the rather flighty and mocking tone of his letters, some of
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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 Virginian by Owen Wister: The old man seemed to vibrate. "Tell you there ain't been no
other! Call me a Mormon, would you?"
"Why, that--"
"Call me a Mormon? Then name some of my wives. Name two. Name
one. Dare you!"
"--that Laramie wido' promised you--'
"Shucks!"
"--only her docter suddenly ordered Southern climate and--"
"Shucks! You're a false alarm."
"--so nothing but her lungs came between you. And next you'd most
got united with Cattle Kate, only--"
The Virginian |
