| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: recapture it. He laughed at himself; but still the gloom
continued; and it was with more than the common relief of an
arrival, that he leaped from the cab before the station.
Probably enough on purpose, Teresa had named an hour some
thirty minutes earlier than needful; and when Harry had given
the box into the charge of a porter, who sat it on a truck,
he proceeded briskly to pace the platform. Presently the
bookstall opened; and the young man was looking at the books
when he was seized by the arm. He turned, and, though she
was closely veiled, at once recognised the Fair Cuban.
'Where is it?' she asked; and the sound of her 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 Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: Hoka, a chief of the Vais, the truculent foe of his clan:
Hoka a moment since that stepped in the loop of the rope,
Filled with the lust of war, and alive with courage and hope.
Again to the giddy cornice Rua lifted his eyes,
And again beheld men passing in the armpit of the skies.
"Foes of my race!" cried Rua, "the mouth of Rua is true:
Never a shark in the deep is nobler of soul than you.
There was never a nobler foray, never a bolder plan;
Never a dizzier path was trod by the children of man;
And Rua, your evil-dealer through all the days of his years,
"Counts it honour to hate you, honour to fall by your spears."
Ballads |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: no word as the conversation grew hotter. The red lips under the
close-clipped black mustache curled down and there was a glint of
amused contempt in his black eyes--contempt, as if he listened to
the braggings of children. A very disagreeable smile, Scarlett
thought. He listened quietly until Stuart Tarleton, his red hair
tousled and his eyes gleaming, repeated: "Why, we could lick them
in a month! Gentlemen always fight better than rabble. A month--
why, one battle--"
"Gentlemen," said Rhett Butler, in a flat drawl that bespoke his
Charleston birth, not moving from his position against the tree or
taking his hands from his pockets, "may I say a word?"
Gone With the Wind |
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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: fifty more if I and my maids were honourably treated.
"I never knew the power of gold before. From that time I was the
leader of the troop. The march of every day was longer or shorter
as I commanded, and the tents were pitched where I chose to rest.
We now had camels and other conveniences for travel; my own women
were always at my side, and I amused myself with observing the
manners of the vagrant nations, and with viewing remains of ancient
edifices, with which these deserted countries appear to have been
in some distant age lavishly embellished.
"The chief of the band was a man far from illiterate: he was able
to travel by the stars or the compass, and had marked in his
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