| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: Mike Dolan and shook hands with Mike, who was alone behind the bar.
"Sorry we couldn't make it sooner, Jimmy, me boy," said Mike. "But we
had that protest from Springfield to buck against, and the governor
nearly balked. Feeling all right?"
"Fine," said Jimmy. "Got my key?"
He got his key and went upstairs, unlocking the door of a room at the
rear. Everything was just as he had left it. There on the floor was
still Ben Price's collar-button that had been torn from that eminent
detective's shirt-band when they had overpowered Jimmy to arrest him.
Pulling out from the wall a folding-bed, Jimmy slid back a panel in
the wall and dragged out a dust-covered suit-case. He opened this and
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: King Richard's abdication. He told Myles that at the time when
Sir John Dale found shelter at Falworth Castle, vengeance was
ready to fall upon his father at any moment, and it needed only
such a pretext as that of sheltering so prominent a conspirator
as Sir John to complete his ruin.
Myles, as he listened intently, could not but confess in his own
mind that the King had many rational, perhaps just, grounds for
grievance against such an ardent opponent as the blind Lord had
shown himself to be. "But, sir," said he, after a little space of
silence, when Prior Edward had ended, "to hold enmity and to
breed treason are very different matters. Haply my father was
Men of Iron |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: avail, I ceased them, and turned my head to have a look at
my assailants. At the same time several others of them
walked around in front of me, and, to my astonishment, I
found myself looking upon uniformed soldiery, armed with
rifles, revolvers, and sabers, but with faces as black as
coal.
8
Delcorte and Taylor were now in mis-stream, coming toward
us, and I called to them to keep aloof until I knew whether
the intentions of my captors were friendly or otherwise. My
good men wanted to come on and annihilate the blacks. But
Lost Continent |
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 Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: with its cool mantle, and went on hurriedly to mingle with the
shadows of other forests on the eastern side. The sun lingered
for a while amongst the light tracery of the higher branches, as
if in friendly reluctance to abandon the body stretched in the
green paddy-field. Then Dain, revived by the cool of the evening
breeze, sat up and stared round him. As he did so the sun dipped
sharply, as if ashamed of being detected in a sympathising
attitude, and the clearing, which during the day was all light,
became suddenly all darkness, where the fire gleamed like an eye.
Dain walked slowly towards the creek, and, divesting himself of
his torn sarong, his only garment, entered the water cautiously.
Almayer's Folly |
