| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: instantly; and when the wash of the next wave had ebbed and left
them dry, he rushed in, caught a blow upon his bill, and leaped
right at the throat of his opponent. The man went down backwards,
with Dick still upon the top of him; and the next wave, speedily
succeeding to the last, buried him below a rush of water.
While he was still submerged, Dick forced his dagger from his
grasp, and rose to his feet, victorious.
"Yield ye!" he said. "I give you life."
"I yield me," said the other, getting to his knees. "Ye fight,
like a young man, ignorantly and foolhardily; but, by the array of
the saints, ye fight bravely!"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: "I _have_," said Legree, with a grim, terrible calmness,
"_done--just--that--thing_, Tom, unless you'll tell me what you
know about these yer gals!"
Tom stood silent.
"D'ye hear?" said Legree, stamping, with a roar like that
of an incensed lion. "Speak!"
"_I han't got nothing to tell, Mas'r_," said Tom, with a
slow, firm, deliberate utterance.
"Do you dare to tell me, ye old black Christian, ye don't
_know_?" said Legree.
Tom was silent.
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: EUTHYPHRO: Of murder, Socrates.
SOCRATES: By the powers, Euthyphro! how little does the common herd know
of the nature of right and truth. A man must be an extraordinary man, and
have made great strides in wisdom, before he could have seen his way to
bring such an action.
EUTHYPHRO: Indeed, Socrates, he must.
SOCRATES: I suppose that the man whom your father murdered was one of your
relatives--clearly he was; for if he had been a stranger you would never
have thought of prosecuting him.
EUTHYPHRO: I am amused, Socrates, at your making a distinction between one
who is a relation and one who is not a relation; for surely the pollution
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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 1492 by Mary Johntson: some regions they dwelled thickly, in others were few folk.
In this wide, long, laughing plain dwelled many, in clean
towns sunk among trees good to look at and dropping fruit;
by river or smaller stream, with plantings of maize, batata,
cassava, jucca, maguey, and I know not what beside. If
the stream was a considerable one, canoes. They had parrots;
they had the small silent dogs. In some places we saw
clay pots and bowls. They wove their cotton, though not
very skillfully. They crushed their maize in hand mills. We
found caciques and butios, and heard of their main cacique,
Gwarionex. But he did not come to meet us; they said he
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