| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: to travel on a steamboat, so we got this little raft on
credit from our friends and are going down to get the
reward. Handcuffs and chains would look still better
on Jim, but it wouldn't go well with the story of us
being so poor. Too much like jewelry. Ropes are
the correct thing -- we must preserve the unities, as we
say on the boards."
We all said the duke was pretty smart, and there
couldn't be no trouble about running daytimes. We
judged we could make miles enough that night to get
out of the reach of the powwow we reckoned the duke's
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Because there is a deadly desert all around that fairy country, which
no one is able to cross. You know that fact as well as I do, your
Majesty. Never mind the lost Belt. You have plenty of power left,
for you rule this underground kingdom like a tyrant, and thousands of
Nomes obey your commands. I advise you to drink a glass of melted
silver, to quiet your nerves, and then go to bed."
The King grabbed a big ruby and threw it at Kaliko's head. The
Steward ducked to escape the heavy jewel, which crashed against the
door just over his left ear.
"Get out of my sight! Vanish! Go away--and send General Blug here,"
screamed the Nome King.
The Emerald City of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: A week after that singular conversation the whole arrondissement,
indeed the whole department, was covered with posters, advertising the
sale of Les Aigues at the office of Maitre Corbineau, the notary of
Soulanges. All the lots were knocked down to Rigou, and the price paid
amounted to two millions five hundred thousand francs. The next day
Rigou had the names changed; Monsieur Gaubertin took the woods, Rigou
and Soudry the vineyards and the farms. The chateau and the park were
sold over again in small lots among the sons of the soil, the
peasantry,--excepting the pavilion, its dependencies, and fifty
surrounding acres, which Monsieur Gaubertin retained as a gift to his
poetic and sentimental spouse.
|
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 Young Forester by Zane Grey: occasionally the crash of a failing branch. It was intolerably hot, but I
could stand the heat better than the air. I coughed and strangled. I could
not get my breath. My eyes smarted and burned. Crawling close under the
bank, I leaned against it and waited.
Some hours must have passed. I suffered, not exactly pain, but a discomfort
that was almost worse. By-and-by the air cleared a little. Rifts in the
smoke drifted over me, always toward the far side of the canyon. Twice I
crawled out upon the bank, but the heat drove me back into the water. The
snow-water from the mountain-peaks had changed from cold to warm; still, it
gave a relief from the hot blast of air. More time dragged by. Weary to the
point of collapse, I grew not to care about anything.
The Young Forester |
