| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: Jim Williams removed his pipe, and puffed a cloud of white smoke.
"Ken, I shore ain't fergot Greaser," he drawled with his slow smile. "Hev
you any pertickler thing you want did to him?"
"Jim, don't kill him!" I burst out, impetuously, and then paused,
frightened out of speech. Why I was afraid of him I did not know, he
seemed so easy-going, so careless--almost sweet, like a woman; but then
I had seen his face once with a look that I could never forget.
"Wal, Ken, I'll dodge Greaser if he ever crosses my trail again."
That promise was a relief. I knew Greaser would come to a bad end, and
certainly would get his just deserts; but I did not want him punished any
more for what he had done to me.
The Young Forester |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: upon the missionaries and their companions, our countrymen, finding
that their lives could only be preserved by their courage, charged
their enemies with such vigour that they killed their chief and
forced the rest to a precipitate flight. But these rovers, being
acquainted with the country, harassed the little caravan till it was
past the borders.
Our fathers then imagined they had nothing more to fear, but too
soon were convinced of their error, for they found the whole country
turned against them, and met everywhere new enemies to contend with
and new dangers to surmount. Being not far distant from Fremona,
where I resided, they sent to me for succour. I was better informed
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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 An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: confide in me. There is no sin that may not be blotted out in the
sight of God by penitence as sincere and touching as yours appears to
be."
At the first words the man started with terror, in spite of himself.
Then he recovered composure, and looked quietly at the astonished
priest.
"Father," he said, and the other could not miss the tremor in his
voice, "no one is more guiltless than I of the blood shed----"
"I am bound to believe you," said the priest. He paused a moment, and
again he scrutinized his penitent. But, persisting in the idea that
the man before him was one of the members of the Convention, one of
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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 Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: through the open stretch of river in the temple gardens by day."
"There is another way," said the girl. "I have never seen
it; but often I have heard them speak of it--a corridor that
runs beside the river from one end of the city to the other.
Through the gardens it is below ground. If we could find an
entrance to it, we could leave here at once. It is not safe here,
for they will search every inch of the temple and the grounds."
"Come," said Bradley. "We'll have a look for it, anyway." And so
saying he approached one of the doors that opened onto the
skull-paved shelf.
They found the corridor easily, for it paralleled the river,
Out of Time's Abyss |
