| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: The word coach--let it be whose it would--or coach-man, or coach-horse, or
coach-hire, could never be named in the family, but he constantly
complained of carrying this vile mark of illegitimacy upon the door of his
own; he never once was able to step into the coach, or out of it, without
turning round to take a view of the arms, and making a vow at the same
time, that it was the last time he would ever set his foot in it again,
till the bend-sinister was taken out--but like the affair of the hinge, it
was one of the many things which the Destinies had set down in their books
ever to be grumbled at (and in wiser families than ours)--but never to be
mended.
--Has the bend-sinister been brush'd out, I say? said my father.--There has
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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 Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: Fog. I saw no one till I was past the end of George Street. Don't
think I met anyone till then."
"So easy as that!" marvelled the voice of Chief Inspector Heat.
"The bang startled you, eh?"
"Yes; it came too soon," confessed the gloomy, husky voice of Mr
Verloc.
Mrs Verloc pressed her ear to the keyhole; her lips were blue, her
hands cold as ice, and her pale face, in which the two eyes seemed
like two black holes, felt to her as if it were enveloped in
flames.
On the other side of the door the voices sank very low. She caught
The Secret Agent |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: The salmon tore up-stream, the tense line cutting the water like
a tide-rip behind him, and the light bamboo bowed to breaking.
What happened thereafter I cannot tell. California swore and
prayed, and Portland shouted advice, and I did all three for what
appeared to be half a day, but was in reality a little over a
quarter of an hour, and sullenly our fish came home with spurts
of temper, dashes head on and sarabands in the air, but home to
the bank came he, and the remorseless reel gathered up the thread
of his life inch by inch. We landed him in a little bay, and the
spring weight in his gorgeous gills checked at eleven and one
half pounds. Eleven and one half pounds of fighting salmon! We
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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 Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: interesting an interview. My gentleman would not tell if I
were on or not. 'I do not know yet; I will tell you next
week. May I tell the sister of my father? No, better not,
tell her when it is done.' - 'But will not your family be
angry if you marry without asking them?' - 'My village? What
does my village want? Mats!' I said I thought the girl
would grow up to have a great deal of sense, and my gentleman
flew out upon me; she had sense now, he said.
Thursday, we were startled by the note of guns, and presently
after heard it was an English war ship. Graham and I set off
at once, and as soon as we met any townsfolk they began
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