| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mayflower Compact: Mr. William Bradford Digery Priest
Mr. Edward Winslow Thomas Williams
Mr. William Brewster Gilbert Winslow
Isaac Allerton Edmund Margesson
Miles Standish Peter Brown
John Alden Richard Bitteridge
John Turner George Soule
Francis Eaton Edward Tilly
James Chilton John Tilly
John Craxton Francis Cooke
John Billington Thomas Rogers
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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 Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: upon the bottom of a broad leaf, Tarzan's keen nose caught
the faint trace of the scent spoor of Toog, where the leaf
had brushed a hairy shoulder as the great ape passed
through the foliage.
Once again the two took up the trail, but it was slow
work now and there were many discouraging delays when
the spoor seemed lost beyond recovery. To you or me
there would have been no spoor, even before the coming
of the rain, except, possibly, where Toog had come
to earth and followed a game trail. In such places
the imprint of a huge handlike foot and the knuckles
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: of the best, and at every Christmastide fourscore marks shall be thy wage.
I trow thou drawest better bow than that same coward knave Robin Hood,
that dared not show his face here this day. Say, good fellow, wilt thou
join my service?"
"Nay, that will I not," quoth the stranger roughly.
"I will be mine own, and no man in all merry England shall
be my master."
"Then get thee gone, and a murrain seize thee!" cried the Sheriff,
and his voice trembled with anger. "And by my faith and troth,
I have a good part of a mind to have thee beaten for thine insolence!"
Then he turned upon his heel and strode away.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
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 Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: Fading behind me like familiar lights
That are to shine no more for my returning,
Home, friends, and honors, -- I that have lost all else
For wisdom, and the wealth of it, say now
To you that out of wisdom has come love,
That measures and is of itself the measure
Of works and hope and faith. Your longest hours
Are not so long that you may torture them
And harass not yourselves; and the last days
Are on the way that you prepare for them,
And was prepared for you, here in a world
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