| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: pig trough and stuck.
Aunt Pettitoes and I dragged him
out by the hind legs.
Chin-chin was already in disgrace;
it was washing day, and he
had eaten a piece of soap. And
presently in a basket of clean
clothes, we found another dirty
little pig--"Tchut, tut, tut! whichever
is this?" grunted Aunt Pettitoes.
Now all the pig family are pink, or
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: "What countryman is monsieur?"
"I am a Pole."
"Oh! then I accept," she said.
Paz departed, promising to return.
"Well, that's a stiff one!" said Marguerite Turquet, looking at Madame
Chapuzot; "I'm half afraid he is wheedling me, to carry out some fancy
of his own--Pooh! I'll risk it."
A month after this eccentric interview the circus-rider was living in
a comfortable apartment furnished by Comte Adam's own upholsterer, Paz
having judged it desirable to have his folly talked about at the hotel
Laginski. Malaga, to whom this adventure was like a leaf out of 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 Damaged Goods by Upton Sinclair: drawing her to one side. "It would be a mistake," he whispered,
"if we did not make her sign an agreement to all that."
His mother turned to the nurse. "In order that there may be no
misunderstanding about the sum--you see how it is, I had
forgotten already that I had spoken of a thousand francs--we will
draw up a little paper, and you, on your part, will write one for
us."
"Very good, ma'am," said the nurse, delighted with the idea of so
important a transaction. "Why, it's just as you do when you rent
a house!"
"Here comes the doctor," said the other. "Come, nurse, it is
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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 The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: And when, after aeons of search, I found a knob and stumbled into
the reception hall, I was as nearly in a panic as any man could be.
I was myself again in a second, and by the light from the hall I
led the way back to the tragedy I had stumbled on. Bronson still
sat at the table, his elbows propped on it, his cigarette still
lighted, burning a hole in the cloth. Partly under the table lay
Mrs. Conway face down. The dog stood over her and wagged his tail.
McKnight pointed silently to a large copper ashtray, filled with
ashes and charred bits of paper.
"The notes, probably," he said ruefully. "He got them after all,
and burned them before her. It was more than she could stand.
The Man in Lower Ten |
