| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: 'Immediately!' he said, and taking up the axe with his right hand
he laid the forefinger of his left hand on the block, swung the
axe, and struck with it below the second joint. The finger flew
off more lightly than a stick of similar thickness, and bounding
up, turned over on the edge of the block and then fell to the
floor.
He heard it fall before he felt any pain, but before he had time
to be surprised he felt a burning pain and the warmth of flowing
blood. He hastily wrapped the stump in the skirt of his cassock,
and pressing it to his hip went back into the room, and standing
in front of the woman, lowered his eyes and asked in a low voice:
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: ``Ah, said the lady; ``I am a Mama, too, but all my little girls
have grown up and left me.''
Bessie Bell wondered how they could have done that, those little
girls. But she saw, and was so glad to see, that this lady was very
wise, and that she understood all the things that little girls
wonder about.
But though there was a difference, a very great difference, between
Mamas and Ladies it was very hard to tell--unless you asked.
One day a large fat lady took Bessie Bell on her lap. That was very
strange to Bessie Bell--to sit on top of anybody.
And the lady made a rabbit, and a pony, and a preacher, all out of a
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: what he had discovered. The commissioner thought it little enough,
and shrugged his shoulders impatiently when the other had finished.
Muller noticed his chief's dissatisfaction and smiled at it. He
himself was quite content with what he bad found.
"Is that all?" murmured the commissioner, as if disappointed.
"That is all," repeated the detective calmly, and added, "That is
a good deal. We have here a closely written notebook, the contents
of which, judging by your excitement, are evidently important. We
have also a handkerchief with an unusual perfume on it. I repeat
that this is quite considerable. Besides this, we have the seals,
and we know several other things. I believe that we can save this
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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 The Time Machine by H. G. Wells: as though they belonged to another universe, shone the little
stars. Two or three Morlocks came blundering into me, and I
drove them off with blows of my fists, trembling as I did so.
`For the most part of that night I was persuaded it was a
nightmare. I bit myself and screamed in a passionate desire to
awake. I beat the ground with my hands, and got up and sat down
again, and wandered here and there, and again sat down. Then I
would fall to rubbing my eyes and calling upon God to let me
awake. Thrice I saw Morlocks put their heads down in a kind of
agony and rush into the flames. But, at last, above the
subsiding red of the fire, above the streaming masses of black
The Time Machine |
