| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: put a sacred seal on this happy union betwixt the bravest and
noblest of Frangistan and Asia, by raising to the rank of his
royal spouse a Christian damsel, allied in blood to King Richard,
and known by the name of the Lady Edith of Plantagenet." [This
may appear so extraordinary and improbable a proposition that it
is necessary to say such a one was actually made. The
historians, however, substitute the widowed Queen of Naples,
sister of Richard, for the bride, and Saladin's brother for the
bridegroom. They appear to have been ignorant of the existence
of Edith of Plantagenet.--See MILL'S History of the Crusades,
vol. ii., p. 61.]
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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 Virginian by Owen Wister: me. This was the fifth. So we six legs in the jerky travelled
harmoniously on over the rain-gutted road, getting no deeper
knowledge of each other than what our outsides might imply.
Not that we concealed anything. The man who had slapped Shorty
introduced himself early. "Scipio le Moyne, from Gallipolice,
Ohio," he said. "The eldest of us always gets called Scipio. It's
French. But us folks have been white for a hundred years." He was
limber and light-muscled, and fell skilfully about, evading
bruises when the jerky reeled or rose on end. He had a strange,
long, jocular nose, very wary-looking, and a bleached blue eye.
Cattle was his business, as a rule, but of late he had been
The Virginian |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: "I beg your pardon for not having my hair properly dressed," she
said, as she took my hands in hers, the custom of these Manchu
princesses and even the Empress Dowager herself, in greeting
foreign ladies. "I welcome you back to Peking after your summer
vacation."
When the usual salutations had been passed she told me her
trouble and I gave her the proper medicine, with minute
instructions as to how to take it, which I also repeated to her
women.
"The cause of my illness," she explained, "is over-fatigue. I had
to be present at court on the eighth of the eighth month and I
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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 Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: Contents:
The Moral Principle and the Material Interest
The Crimson Candle
The Blotted Escutcheon and the Soiled Ermine
The Ingenious Patriot
Two Kings
An Officer and a Thug
The Conscientious Official
How Leisure Came
The Moral Sentiment
The Politicians
Fantastic Fables |
