| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: jesting words to him he answered back as merrily, speech for speech.
So they stepped along toward Tuxford, chatting and laughing,
until they came nigh to the town. Here Little John stopped
and set down the baskets, for he did not care to go into the town
lest he should, perchance, meet some of the Sheriff's men.
"Alas! sweet chucks," quoth he, "here I must leave you.
I had not thought to come this way, but I am glad that I did so.
Now, ere we part, we must drink sweet friendship." So saying,
he unslung the leathern pottle from the end of his staff, and,
drawing the stopper therefrom, he handed it to the lass who had carried
his staff, first wiping the mouth of the pottle upon his sleeve.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: clue. The earth was too frozen to show the footprints of the murderer,
and all they found was the paper of a cartridge. When the attorney and
the judge and Monsieur Gourdon, the doctor, arrived and raised the
body to make the autopsy, it was found that the ball, which
corresponded with the fragments of the wad, was an ammunition ball,
evidently from a military musket; and no such musket existed in the
district of Blangy. The judge and Monsieur Soudry the attorney, who
came that evening to the chateau, thought it best to collect all the
facts and await events. The same opinion was expressed by the sergeant
and the lieutenant of the gendarmerie.
"It is impossible that it can be anything but a planned attack on the
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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 Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: Yourself a sweet familiar. Oftentimes
My wife and I will talk of this fair night
And its great issues.
Why, what a sword is this.
Ferrara's temper, pliant as a snake,
And deadlier, I doubt not. With such steel,
One need fear nothing in the moil of life.
I never touched so delicate a blade.
I have a sword too, somewhat rusted now.
We men of peace are taught humility,
And to bear many burdens on our backs,
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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 A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: the second day came the nobles, and on the third day came the
craftsmen and the slaves. And this is their custom with all
merchants as long as they tarry in the city.
'And we tarried for a moon, and when the moon was waning, I wearied
and wandered away through the streets of the city and came to the
garden of its god. The priests in their yellow robes moved
silently through the green trees, and on a pavement of black marble
stood the rose-red house in which the god had his dwelling. Its
doors were of powdered lacquer, and bulls and peacocks were wrought
on them in raised and polished gold. The tilted roof was of sea-
green porcelain, and the jutting eaves were festooned with little
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