| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: tin basin. Dip your head in. Rosa, give your father the towel.
Everything ready except the trousers. I haven't had time to shorten them.
You must tuck the ends into your boots until we get there."
"Nu," said the Herr, "there isn't room to turn. I want the light. You go
and dress in the passage."
Dressing in the dark was nothing to Frau Brechenmacher. She hooked her
skirt and bodice, fastened her handkerchief round her neck with a beautiful
brooch that had four medals to the Virgin dangling from it, and then drew
on her cloak and hood.
"Here, come and fasten this buckle," called Herr Brechenmacher. He stood
in the kitchen puffing himself out, the buttons on his blue uniform shining
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: did not know what he did, for he knew that his master
acknowledged I was not the person that was in his shop; 'and,'
says the constable, 'I am afraid your master is bringing himself,
and me too, into trouble, if this gentlewoman comes to prove
who she is, and where she was, and it appears that she is not
the woman you pretend to.' 'Damn her,' says the fellow again,
with a impudent, hardened face, 'she is the lady, you may depend
upon it; I'll swear she is the same body that was in the shop,
and that I gave the pieces of satin that is lost into her own hand.
You shall hear more of it when Mr. William and Mr. Anthony
(those were other journeymen) come back; they will know her
Moll Flanders |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all fours
and at the same time swung his great, wicked tail with a
force that would have broken every bone in my body had it
struck me; but, fortunately, I had turned to flee at the
very instant that I felt my blow land upon the towering back.
As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running
along the edge of the forest rather than making for the
open beach. In a moment I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation,
and the awful thing behind me was gaining rapidly
as I floundered and fell in my efforts to extricate myself.
A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing
At the Earth's Core |
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 Contrast by Royall Tyler: behind the curtain, and rapidly gained the friendship
of all the performers, particularly that of Wignell, the
low comedian of the company. He gave Wignell the
manuscript of the 'Contrast,' and on the 19th of May,
the same year, produced for that actor's benefit his
second play, 'May-day in Town, or New-York in an
Uproar,' a comic opera in two acts. He shortly after-
ward returned to his home at Boston, where, several
years later (1797) another play from his pen, called 'A
Good Spec, or Land in the Moon,' was produced. I
have been unable to ascertain whether either 'May-
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