| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tales and Fantasies by Robert Louis Stevenson: certain emphasis; and John took it and kept it a little
longer, and said, 'Good-night, Flora, dear,' and was
instantly thrown into much fear by his presumption. But she
only laughed, ran up the steps, and rang the bell; and while
she was waiting for the door to open, kept close in the
porch, and talked to him from that point as out of a
fortification. She had a knitted shawl over her head; her
blue Highland eyes took the light from the neighbouring
street-lamp and sparkled; and when the door opened and closed
upon her, John felt cruelly alone.
He proceeded slowly back along the terrace in a tender glow;
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: death which recapture would surely mean, I lifted Dejah
Thoris in my arms and placed her upon the thoat behind
Sola, who had already mounted at my command.
"Good-bye, my princess," I whispered, "we may meet in
Helium yet. I have escaped from worse plights than this,"
and I tried to smile as I lied.
"What," she cried, "are you not coming with us?"
"How may I, Dejah Thoris? Someone must hold these
fellows off for a while, and I can better escape them alone
than could the three of us together."
She sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing her dear
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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 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: like a face at all. They said he was floating on his
back in the water. They took him and buried him on
the bank. But I warn't comfortable long, because I
happened to think of something. I knowed mighty
well that a drownded man don't float on his back, but
on his face. So I knowed, then, that this warn't pap,
but a woman dressed up in a man's clothes. So I was
uncomfortable again. I judged the old man would
turn up again by and by, though I wished he wouldn't.
We played robber now and then about a month, and
then I resigned. All the boys did. We hadn't robbed
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
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 Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: arrive with their axes."
"Then how will they cut off my head with two axes? For I suppose they
will both chop at the same time, and I have but one neck."
"Wait and see," answered the two Ki, sighing deeply and rubbing their
red noses thoughtfully.
"Oh, I'll wait," answered the boy; "but as for seeing them cut off my
head, I refuse; for I intend to shut my eyes."
So they sat in their rooms or walked in the gardens, yawning and
waiting, until one day, just as the two clocks on the wall were
striking twenty-four o'clock, the door opened and to their surprise
one of the High Ki twins walked in upon them.
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
