| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain: live up to it. It is hard to remember. Will you say it again,
please, and say it slow?"
"Plantigrade circumflex vertebrate bacterium that hasn't any wings
and is uncertain."
"It is beautiful, anybody must grant it; beautiful, and of a noble
sound. I hope it will not make me proud and stuck-up - I should
not like to be that. It is much more distinguished and honorable
to be a reptile than a dog, don't you think, Soldier?"
"Why, there's no comparison. It is awfully aristocratic. Often a
duke is called a reptile; it is set down so, in history."
"Isn't that grand! Potter wouldn't ever associate with me, but I
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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 Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: observant phantoms. The din became crescendo,
like the roar of an oncoming train.
A brigade ahead of them and on the right
went into action with a rending roar. It was
as if it had exploded. And thereafter it lay
stretched in the distance behind a long gray wall,
that one was obliged to look twice at to make
sure that it was smoke.
The youth, forgetting his neat plan of getting
killed, gazed spell bound. His eyes grew wide
and busy with the action of the scene. His
The Red Badge of Courage |
