| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: During the whole time of her stay at La Grenadiere she went but twice
into Tours; once to call on the headmaster of the school, to ask him
to give her the names of the best masters of Latin, drawing, and
mathematics; and a second time to make arrangements for the children's
lessons. But her appearance on the bridge of an evening, once or twice
a week, was quite enough to excite the interest of almost all the
inhabitants of Tours, who make a regular promenade of the bridge.
Still, in spite of a kind of spy system, by which no harm is meant, a
provincial habit bred of want of occupation and the restless
inquisitiveness of the principal society, nothing was known for
certain of the newcomer's rank, fortune, or real condition. Only, the
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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 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: for two cents I'd leave the blamed country and never
come a-near it agin. Them's the very words. I says
look at my hat -- if you call it a hat -- but the lid
raises up and the rest of it goes down till it's below
my chin, and then it ain't rightly a hat at all, but more
like my head was shoved up through a jint o' stove-
pipe. Look at it, says I -- such a hat for me to wear
-- one of the wealthiest men in this town if I could git
my rights.
"Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful.
Why, looky here. There was a free nigger there from
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: into the impenetrable night with no guide save the memory
of an illusive cry, and for company the hideous denizens
of an equatorial river.
The boat that had attracted Jane's attention as she stood
guard upon the deck of the Kincaid had been perceived by
Rokoff upon one bank and Mugambi and the horde upon the other.
The cries of the Russian had brought the dugout first to him,
and then, after a conference, it had been turned toward the
Kincaid, but before ever it covered half the distance between
the shore and the steamer a rifle had spoken from the latter's
deck and one of the sailors in the bow of the canoe had crumpled
The Beasts of Tarzan |
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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: rapidly, and stopping now and then for a brief instant. Soon they emerged from
the forest into more open country. They faced a wide plain skirted on the
right by a long, winding strip of bright green willows which marked the course
of the stream. On the edge of this plain Wetzel broke into a run. He kept this
pace for a distance of an hundred yards, then stopped to listen intently as he
glanced sharply on all sides, after which he was off again.
Half way across this plain Joe's wind began to fail, and his breathing became
labored; but he kept close to the hunter's heels. Once he looked back to see a
great wide expanse of waving grass. They had covered perhaps four miles at a
rapid pace, and were nearing the other side of the plain. The lad felt as if
his head was about to burst; a sharp pain seized upon his side; a blood-red
The Spirit of the Border |
