| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: "How old art thou, Allan?" said Robin.
"I am but twenty years of age."
"Methinks thou art overyoung to be perplexed with trouble,"
quoth Robin kindly; then, turning to the others, he cried,
"Come, lads, busk ye and get our feast ready; only thou,
Will Scarlet, and thou, Little John, stay here with me."
Then, when the others had gone, each man about his business, Robin turned
once more to the youth. "Now, lad," said he, "tell us thy troubles,
and speak freely. A flow of words doth ever ease the heart of sorrows;
it is like opening the waste weir when the mill dam is overfull.
Come, sit thou here beside me, and speak at thine ease."
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: resilient surface of green that extended to the base of the frowning wall.
Beyond the pool a gentle slope of earth ran up and up to meet the opposing
wall. Fine grass covered the slope--grass that was spangled with flowers, with
here and there patches of color, orange and purple and golden. Below, the
canyon was shut in. There was no view. The walls leaned together abruptly and
the canyon ended in a chaos of rocks, moss-covered and hidden by a green
screen of vines and creepers and boughs of trees. Up the canyon rose far hills
and peaks, the big foothills, pine-covered and remote. And far beyond, like
clouds upon the border of the slay, towered minarets of white, where the
Sierra's eternal snows flashed austerely the blazes of the sun.
There was no dust in the canyon. The leaves and flowers were clean and
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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 Philebus by Plato: of measure.
b. Again, to us there is a strongly-marked distinction between a first
cause and a final cause. And we should commonly identify a first cause
with God, and the final cause with the world, which is His work. But
Plato, though not a Pantheist, and very far from confounding God with the
world, tends to identify the first with the final cause. The cause of the
union of the finite and infinite might be described as a higher law; the
final measure which is the highest expression of the good may also be
described as the supreme law. Both these conceptions are realized chiefly
by the help of the material world; and therefore when we pass into the
sphere of ideas can hardly be distinguished.
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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 Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: woman gently from him. "It is impossible," he repeated. "It is
impossible."
"I am not a girl, Dave, with a girl's illusions," she said softly,
though not daring to come back to him. "It is as a woman that I
understand. Men are men. A common custom of the country. I am
not shocked. I divined it from the first. But--ah!--it is only a
marriage of the country--not a real marriage?"
"We do not ask such questions in Alaska," he interposed feebly.
"I know, but--"
"Well, then, it is only a marriage of the country--nothing else."
"And there are no children?"
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