| 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: and shaky:
"Now, dear lady, if thy will be,
I pray you that you will rue on me."
"Nick Appleyard," said Hatch, "Sir Oliver commends him to you, and
bids that ye shall come within this hour to the Moat House, there
to take command."
The old fellow looked up.
"Save you, my masters!" he said, grinning. "And where goeth Master
Hatch?"
"Master Hatch is off to Kettley, with every man that we can horse,"
returned Bennet. "There is a fight toward, it seems, and my lord
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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 Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Billow! thy beautiful blue seems to me dark as the night.
All were now in movement; a boy to the house of my father
Ran at full speed and exclaim'd: "Hasten thee quick to the strand
Hoisted the sail is already, e'en now in the wind it is flutt'ring,
While the anchor they weigh, heaving it up from the sand;
Come, Alexis, oh come!"--My worthy stout-hearted father
Press'd, with a blessing, his hand down on my curly-lock'd head,
While my mother carefully reach'd me a newly-made bundle,
"Happy mayst thou return!" cried they--" both happy and rich!"
Then I sprang away, and under my arm held the bundle,
Running along by the wall. Standing I found thee hard by,
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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 My Antonia by Willa Cather: I couldn't. But he always loved her like she was his own.'
`I didn't even know Martha wasn't my full sister until after she
was engaged to Joe,' Anna told me.
Toward the middle of the afternoon, the wagon drove in, with the father and
the eldest son. I was smoking in the orchard, and as I went out to meet them,
Antonia came running down from the house and hugged the two men as if they
had been away for months.
`Papa,' interested me, from my first glimpse of him.
He was shorter than his older sons; a crumpled little man,
with run-over boot-heels, and he carried one shoulder
higher than the other. But he moved very quickly,
My Antonia |
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 Case of the Golden Bullet by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: "Take me into the garden now."
"Yes, sir." Muller took his hat and coat and followed the valet
into the garden. It was of considerable size, carefully and
attractively planned, and pleasing even now when the bare twigs
bent under their load of snow.
"Now think carefully, Johann. We had a full moon last night. Don't
you remember seeing any footsteps in the garden, leading away from
the house?" asked Muller, as they stood on the snow-covered paths.
Johann thought it over carefully, then said decidedly, "No. At
least I don't remember anything of the kind. There was a strong
wind yesterday anyway, and the snow drifts easily out here. No
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