| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: not nice or friendly, Mrs. Vivian, to your poor little old Blanche.
You are not going back to America? Ah, then, I give it up!
What 's the great mystery? Is it something about Angela?
There was always a mystery about Angela. I hope you won't
mind my saying it, my dear; but I was always afraid of you.
My husband--he admires you so much, you know--has often
tried to explain you to me; but I have never understood.
What are you going to do now? Are you going into a convent?
Are you going to be--A-a-h!"
And, suddenly, quickly, interrupting herself, Mrs. Gordon gave
a long, wondering cry. Bernard heard her spring to her feet,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: business far more effectually than your sword."
The dragon had probably heard the voices; for swift as
lightning, his black head and forked tongue came hissing among
the trees again, darting full forty feet at a stretch. As it
approached, Medea tossed the contents of the gold box right
down the monster's wide-open throat. Immediately, with an
outrageous hiss and a tremendous wriggle--flinging his tail up
to the tip-top of the tallest tree, and shattering all its
branches as it crashed heavily down again--the dragon fell at
full length upon the ground, and lay quite motionless.
"It is only a sleeping potion," said the enchantress to Prince
Tanglewood Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: All at once my strained, yearning stare distinguished
a white object floating within a yard of the ship's side.
White on the black water. A phosphorescent flash passed under it.
What was that thing? . . . I recognized my own floppy hat.
It must have fallen off his head . . . and he didn't bother.
Now I had what I wanted--the saving mark for my eyes.
But I hardly thought of my other self, now gone from the ship,
to be hidden forever from all friendly faces, to be a fugitive
and a vagabond on the earth, with no brand of the curse on his
sane forehead to stay a slaying hand . . . too proud to explain.
And I watched the hat--the expression of my sudden pity for his mere flesh.
The Secret Sharer |
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 A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: have never known the restraint of civilized society. A party of
them lay in wait for the unfortunate Warden of the Forest,
surprised him while hunting alone and unattended, and slew him
with every circumstance of inventive cruelty. They cut off his
head, and resolved, in a bravado, to exhibit it at the castle of
his brother-in-law. The laird was absent, and the lady
reluctantly received as guests, men against whom, perhaps, she
was afraid to shut her gates. Refreshments were placed before
the Children of the Mist, who took an opportunity to take the
head of their victim from the plaid in which it was wrapt, placed
it on the table, put a piece of bread between the lifeless jaws,
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