| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: since been fought, in which men have slain their brothers with
just as little reason as these children of the dragon's teeth.
It ought to be considered, too, that the dragon people were
made for nothing else; whereas other mortals were born to love
and help one another.
Well, this memorable battle continued to rage until the ground
was strewn with helmeted heads that had been cut off. Of all
the thousands that began the fight, there were only five left
standing. These now rushed from different parts of the field,
and, meeting in the middle of it, clashed their swords, and
struck at each other's hearts as fiercely as ever.
Tanglewood Tales |
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 An International Episode by Henry James: They went a little way down one of these side streets, and they
saw young ladies in white dresses--charming-looking persons--
seated in graceful attitudes on the chocolate-colored steps.
In one or two places these young ladies were conversing across the street
with other young ladies seated in similar postures and costumes
in front of the opposite houses, and in the warm night air their
colloquial tones sounded strange in the ears of the young Englishmen.
One of our friends, nevertheless--the younger one--intimated that
he felt a disposition to interrupt a few of these soft familiarities;
but his companion observed, pertinently enough, that he had
better be careful. "We must not begin with making mistakes,"
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