| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: saw a glimmer of light, which, for a half mile, broke the
darkness of the waters. It was the lantern of the Nautilus.
Before twenty minutes were over we should be on board,
and I should be able to breathe with ease, for it seemed
that my reservoir supplied air very deficient in oxygen.
But I did not reckon on an accidental meeting which delayed our
arrival for some time.
I had remained some steps behind, when I presently saw Captain
Nemo coming hurriedly towards me. With his strong hand he bent
me to the ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil.
At first I knew not what to think of this sudden attack, but I
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London: which I have confused with the happenings of the other
three years. The more I think of it, the more
confident I am that it must be four years that she was
away.
Where she went, why she went, and what happened to her
during that time, I do not know. There was no way for
her to tell me, any more than there was a way for
Lop-Ear and me to tell the Folk what we had seen when
we were away. Like us, the chance is she had gone off
on an adventure-journey, and by herself. On the other
hand, it is possible that Red-Eye may have been the
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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 Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart: cost of almost superhuman effort. But that was when she knew Henri's
story, and his work. She waited for him in the reception room, where a
man and a woman were having coffee and talking in a strange tongue.
Henri found her there, at something before nine, rather downcast and
worried, and debating about going up to bed. She looked up, to find him
bowing before her.
"I thought you were not coming," she said.
"I? Not come? But I had said that I would come, mademoiselle. I may
sit down?"
Sara Lee moved over on the velvet sofa, and Henri lowered his long body
onto it. Lowered his voice, too, for the man and woman were staring at
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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 Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: philosophers. Thursday was the day of the examination. "Who's
Anaxagoras?" Billy had inquired of Bertie. "I'll tell you," said
Bertie, "if you'll tell me who Epicharmos of Kos was." And upon this
they embraced with helpless laughter. Then they reckoned up the hours
left for them to learn Epicharmos of Kos in,--between Monday noon and
Thursday morning at nine,--and their quailing chill increased. A tutor
must be called in at once. So the grasshoppers, having money, sought
out and quickly purchased the ant.
Closeted with Oscar and his notes, they had, as Bertie put it, salted
down the early Greek bucks by seven on Monday evening. By the same
midnight they had, as Billy expressed it, called the turn on Plato.
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