Today's Stichomancy for Sammy Davis Jr.

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde:

Salome.

SALOME [se levant] La tete d'Iokanaan.

HEDODIAS. Ah! c'est bien dit, ma fille.

HERODE. Non, non.

HERODIAS. C'est bien dit, ma fille.

HERODE. Non, non, Salome. Vous ne me demandez pas cela. N'ecoutez pas votre mere. Elle vous donne toujours de mauvais conseils. Il ne faut pas l'ecouter.

SALOME. Je n'ecoute pas ma mere. C'est pour mon propre plaisir que je demande la tete d'Iokanaan dans un bassin d'argent. Vous avez jure, Herode. N'oubliez pas que vous avez jure.

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac:

others; for my friends will insure a success. And so, Coralie, 'vogue le galere!' as you say."

"You will make your way, dear boy; but you must not be as good-natured as you are good-looking; it would be the ruin of you. Be ill-natured, that is the proper thing."

Coralie and Lucien drove in the Bois de Boulogne, and again they met the Marquise d'Espard, Mme. de Bargeton and the Baron du Chatelet. Mme. de Bargeton gave Lucien a languishing glance which might be taken as a greeting. Camusot had ordered the best possible dinner; and Coralie, feeling that she was rid of her adorer, was more charming to the poor silk-mercer than she had ever been in the fourteen months

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum:

entering the City of Regos, where she might be interrupted. For an hour or two she found the walking easy enough, but then the forest, which in this part was unknown to her, became badly tangled. The trees were thicker and creeping vines intertwined between them. She had to turn this way and that to get through at all, and finally she came to a place where a network of vines and branches effectually barred her farther progress.

Zella was dismayed, at first, when she encountered

Rinkitink In Oz

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 Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Davis:

and fluent French. But they deceived nobody; they all had that nimble brain, and that unconscious swagger of importance and success which stamps the American in every country. Prince Hugo, in his old brown suit, came and went quietly among them.

"The genuine article!" Jean declared loudly. "There is something royal in his hospitality! He lays all Munich at Lucy's feet, as if it were his own estate, and the museums and palaces were the furniture of his house. That homely simplicity of his is tremendously fine, if she could understand it!"