| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: moats are its special domain, which in this its flowering season it
wrests wholly from their more proper occupant--the water. A dense
growth of leather-like leaves, above which rise in majestic isolation
the solitary flowers, encircles the outer rampart, shutting the
castle in as it might be the palace of the Sleeping Beauty. In the
delightful dreaminess that creeps over one as he stands thus before
some old daimyo's former abode in the heart of Japan, he forgets all
his metaphysical difficulties about Nirvana, for he fancies he has
found it, one long Lotus afternoon.
And then last, but in some sort first, since it has been taken for
the imperial insignia, comes the chrysanthemum. The symmetry of its
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: That stepmother, it must be explained, is quite well known to
you. That is a little surprise I have prepared for you. She is
'Thomas Plantagenet,' the gifted authoress of that witty and
daring book, "A Soul Untrammelled," and quite an excellent woman
in her way,--only it is such a crooked way. Her real name is
Milton. She is a widow and a charming one, only ten years older
than Jessie, and she is always careful to dedicate her more
daring works to the 'sacred memory of my husband' to show that
there's nothing personal, you know, in the matter. Considering
her literary reputation (she was always speaking of herself as
one I martyred for truth,' because the critics advertised her
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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 Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: by.
'Gawd,' he gasped, 'I telled 'em not ter go daown into the
glen, an' I never thought nobody'd dew it with them tracks an'
that smell an' the whippoorwills a-screechin' daown thar in the
dark o' noonday...'
A cold shudder ran through natives and visitors
alike, and every ear seemed strained in a kind of instinctive,
unconscious listening. Armitage, now that he had actually come
upon the horror and its monstrous work, trembled with the responsibility
he felt to be his. Night would soon fall, and it was then that
the mountainous blasphemy lumbered upon its eldritch course. Negotium
The Dunwich Horror |
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 Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: conclude that Poirot was mad.
Japp had taken out a handkerchief, and was gently dabbing his
brow.
"I daren't do it, Mr. Poirot. I'd take your word, but there's
others over me who'll be asking what the devil I mean by it.
Can't you give me a little more to go on?"
Poirot reflected a moment.
"It can be done," he said at last. "I admit I do not wish it.
It forces my hand. I would have preferred to work in the dark
just for the present, but what you say is very just--the word of
a Belgian policeman, whose day is past, is not enough! And Alfred
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
