| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that
she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious
self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the
world.
Her husband let her alone as she requested, and went away to
his office. Edna went up to her atelier--a bright room in the top
of the house. She was working with great energy and interest,
without accomplishing anything, however, which satisfied her even
in the smallest degree. For a time she had the whole household
enrolled in the service of art. The boys posed for her. They thought
it amusing at first, but the occupation soon lost its attractiveness
Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: opened, and in came the fair and girlish Princess Ozma, who now
greeted her guests in person for the first time.
As she stood by her throne at the head of the banquet table every eye
was turned eagerly upon the lovely Princess, who was as dignified as
she was bewitching, and who smiled upon all her old and new friends in
a way that touched their hearts and brought an answering smile to
every face.
Each guest had been served with a crystal goblet filled with lacasa,
which is a sort of nectar famous in Oz and nicer to drink than
soda-water or lemonade. Santa now made a pretty speech in verse,
congratulating Ozma on having a birthday, and asking every one present
The Road to Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: the galley, the cook's berth, and the quarters of the
crew. As we had expected for days to see it swept away,
the hands had been ordered to sleep in the cabin--the
only safe place in the ship. The steward, Abraham,
however, persisted in clinging to his berth, stupidly, like
a mule--from sheer fright I believe, like an animal that
on't leave a stable falling in an earthquake. So we
went to look for him. It was chancing death, since once
out of our lashings we were as exposed as if on a raft.
But we went. The house was shattered as if a shell had
exploded inside. Most of it had gone overboard--stove,
Youth |
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 Desert Gold by Zane Grey: Cameron grew acutely conscious of the pang in his own breast, of
the fire in his heart, the strife and torment of his passion-driven
soul. He had come into the desert to remember a woman. She
appeared to him then as she had looked when first she entered his
life--a golden-haired girl, blue-eyed, white-skinned, red-lipped,
tall and slender and beautiful. He had never forgotten, and an old,
sickening remorse knocked at his heart. He rose and climbed out
of the canyon and to the top of a mesa, where he paced to and fro
and looked down into the weird and mystic shadows, like the darkness
of his passion, and farther on down the moon track and the glittering
stretches that vanished in the cold, blue horizon. The moon soared
Desert Gold |
