| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the actions of the bull ape as he bolted into the building,
frothing with rage.
They had followed immediately behind him, thinking it
barely possible that his actions might prove a clew to my
whereabouts and had witnessed my short but decisive battle
with him. This encounter, together with my set-to with the
Martian warrior on the previous day and my feats of jumping
placed me upon a high pinnacle in their regard. Evidently
devoid of all the finer sentiments of friendship, love, or
affection, these people fairly worship physical prowess and
bravery, and nothing is too good for the object of their
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey: his eyes were dancing. "I'll throw a gun on Dene. I can get to him.
We've been tolerable friends. He's wanted me to join his band. I'll
kill him."
He laughed as he raised his right hand and swept it down to his left
side; the blue Colt lay on his outstretched palm. Dene's life and
Holderness's, too, hung in the balance between two deadly snaps of this
desert-wolf's teeth. He was one of the Naabs, and yet apart from them,
for neither religion, nor friendship, nor life itself mattered to him.
August Naab's huge bulk shook again, not this time with grief, but in
wrestling effort to withstand the fiery influence of this unholy fighting
spirit among his sons.
The Heritage of the Desert |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: have been handsome were it not for the unnatural
pallor of his face, and the concentrated, wicked,
scarcely human, look in his eyes. Another was
a Jew, hairy and gloomy. The third was a lean
old man, bald, with a beard that had been shaven
and had since grown like bristles. The fourth was
extraordinarily heavily built, with well-developed
muscles, a low receding forehead and a flat nose.
The fifth was hardly more than a boy, long,
thin, obviously consumptive. The sixth was
small and dark, with nervous, convulsive move-
The Forged Coupon |
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 Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: When Moonlight ceased, Summer-Wind laid down her rose-leaf fan, and,
leaning back in her acorn cup, told this tale of
RIPPLE, THE WATER-SPIRIT.
DOWN in the deep blue sea lived Ripple, a happy little Water-Spirit;
all day long she danced beneath the coral arches, made garlands
of bright ocean flowers, or floated on the great waves that sparkled
in the sunlight; but the pastime that she loved best was lying
in the many-colored shells upon the shore, listening to the low,
murmuring music the waves had taught them long ago; and here
for hours the little Spirit lay watching the sea and sky, while
singing gayly to herself.
Flower Fables |
