| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: "But, my darling! Not that blue velvet! The blue velvet is for a
party dress for me," laughed Scarlett. "A nice black broadcloth is
what little girls wear." Seeing the small black brows coming
together: "For Heaven's sake, Rhett, tell her how unsuitable it
would be and how dirty it will get."
"Oh, let her have the blue velvet. If it gets dirty, we'll make
her another one," said Rhett easily.
So Bonnie had her blue velvet habit with a skirt that trailed down
the pony's side and a black hat with a red plume in it, because
Aunt Melly's stories of Jeb Stuart's plume had appealed to her
imagination. On days that were bright and clear the two could be
Gone With the Wind |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: and, thus laden, hurried back to the hut. I found Margrave in the
room below, seated on his mysterious coffer, leaning his face on
his hand. When I entered, he looked up, and said:
"You have neglected me. My strength is waning. Give me more of
the cordial, for we have work before us tonight, and I need
support."
He took for granted my assent to his wild experiment; and he was
right.
I administered the cordial. I placed food before him, and this
time he did not eat with repugnance. I poured out wine, and he
drank it sparingly, but with ready compliance, saying, "In perfect
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: The Piping Fisherman
AN Editor who was always vaunting the purity, enterprise, and
fearlessness of his paper was pained to observe that he got no
subscribers. One day it occurred to him to stop saying that his
paper was pure and enterprising and fearless, and make it so. "If
these are not good qualities," he reasoned, "it is folly to claim
them."
Under the new policy he got so many subscribers that his rivals
endeavoured to discover the secret of his prosperity, but he kept
it, and when he died it died with him.
The Ants and the Grasshopper
Fantastic Fables |
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 From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: of departure."
"You are right, Barbicane," replied Captain Nicholl; "and,
besides, when we have reached the moon, we shall have time
during the long lunar nights to consider at our leisure the
globe on which our likenesses swarm."
"Our likenesses!" exclaimed Michel Ardan; "They are no more our
likenesses than the Selenites are! We inhabit a new world,
peopled by ourselves-- the projectile! I am Barbicane's
likeness, and Barbicane is Nicholl's. Beyond us, around us,
human nature is at an end, and we are the only population of
this microcosm until we become pure Selenites."
From the Earth to the Moon |
