| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: had sent cold shivers running up her spine.
She had removed the man's long sword and armor before
attempting to move him, and now she crouched beside the
corpse with both the swords beside her--she would sell her
life dearly. Theriere's words came back to her now as they
had when she was struggling in the water after the wreck of
the Halfmoon: "but, by George, I intend to go down fighting."
Well, she could do no less.
She could hear the movement of several persons in the next
room now. The voices of women and children came to her
distinctly. Many of the words were Japanese, but others were
The Mucker |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Faith of Men by Jack London: light. Also, the white blood in her, combined with her knowledge
that it was in her, made her, in a way, ambitious. Otherwise by
upbringing and in outlook on life, she was wholly and utterly a
Toyaat Indian.
One winter, when she was a young woman, Neil Bonner came into her
life. But he came into her life, as he had come into the country,
somewhat reluctantly. In fact, it was very much against his will,
coming into the country. Between a father who clipped coupons and
cultivated roses, and a mother who loved the social round, Neil
Bonner had gone rather wild. He was not vicious, but a man with
meat in his belly and without work in the world has to expend his
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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 Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: of a singing quadrille.
A magazine club supplies you with everything, from the QUARTERLY to
the SUNDAY AT HOME. Grand tournaments are organised at chess,
draughts, billiards and whist. Once and again wandering artists drop
into our mountain valley, coming you know not whence, going you
cannot imagine whither, and belonging to every degree in the
hierarchy of musical art, from the recognised performer who announces
a concert for the evening, to the comic German family or solitary
long-haired German baritone, who surprises the guests at dinner-time
with songs and a collection. They are all of them good to see; they,
at least, are moving; they bring with them the sentiment of the open
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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 Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: he was acting with extreme generosity, while, in the opinion of
all impartial men, he will only be considered as having fulfilled
a natural obligation, seeing that, in justice, if not in strict
law, you must be considered as the heir of your mother, and I as
your legal administrator. Instead, therefore, of considering
myself as loaded with obligations to Sir Edward on this account,
I think I had reason to complain that these remittances were only
doled out to me at the pleasure of Mr. Ratcliffe, who, moreover,
exacted from me mortgages over my paternal estate of Ellieslaw
for any sums which I required as an extra advance; and thus may
be said to have insinuated himself into the absolute management
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