| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Door in the Wall, et. al. by H. G. Wells: Was there, after all, ever any green door in the wall at all?
I do not know. I have told his story as he told it to me.
There are times when I believe that Wallace was no more than the
victim of the coincidence between a rare but not unprecedented type
of hallucination and a careless trap, but that indeed is not my
profoundest belief. You may think me superstitious if you will,
and foolish; but, indeed, I am more than half convinced that he had
in truth, an abnormal gift, and a sense, something--I know not
what--that in the guise of wall and door offered him an outlet, a
secret and peculiar passage of escape into another and altogether
more beautiful world. At any rate, you will say, it betrayed him
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: regretting his act! and further to impress him I rolled up my right sleeve
with greatest care.) 'Are you prepared to die?' (I got a stealthy crouch on,
and put a cat-foot forward.) 'But a minute, a brief minute, stands between you
and eternity.' (Here I crooked my right hand into a claw and slid the other
foot up.) 'Young man, young man,' I trumpeted, 'in thirty seconds I shall tear
your heart dripping from your bosom and stoop to hear you shriek in hell.'
"It fetched him. He gave one whoop, the car shot down, and I was on the drag.
You see, Anak, it's a habit I can't shake off of leaving vivid memories
behind. No one ever forgets me.
"I had not got to the corner when I heard a familiar voice at my shoulder:
"'Hello, Cinders! Which way?'
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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 Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: and the white, fat, naked female in a ridiculous attitude, I found
it quite impossible. Again and again I attempted to approach
the point, again and again fell back on commendations of the
picture; and it was not until the model had enjoyed an interval
of repose, during which she took the conversation in her own
hands and regaled us (in a soft, weak voice) with details as to
her husband's prosperity, her sister's lamented decline from the
paths of virtue, and the consequent wrath of her father, a
peasant of stern principles, in the vicinity of Chalons on the
Marne;--it was not, I say, until after this was over, and I had
once more cleared my throat for the attack, and once more
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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 Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: "Oh, ho!" cried Marvel; "I begin to understand. You are a prisoner."
"Yes; as you will also be shortly," answered the boy. "And then you
will understand another thing--that you were very reckless ever to
enter this cave."
"Why?" inquired the prince, who really knew little of the world, and
was interested in everything he saw and heard.
"Because it is the stronghold of the robber king, and when you opened
that gate you caused a bell to ring far down on the hillside. So the
robbers are now warned that an enemy is in their cave, and they will
soon arrive to make you a prisoner, even as I am."
"Ah, I see!" said the prince, with a laugh, "It is a rather clever
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
