| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: I nodded; I had had the same thought.
There was no time to lose; at any moment that they should
chance to glance in our direction they were certain to see us. I
whispered hastily and briefly to Harry. He nodded.
The next instant we were advancing slowly and noiselessly,
hugging the wall. We carried our spears ready, though we did not
mean to use them, for a miss would have meant an alarm.
"If she is alone!" I was saying within myself, almost a
prayer, when suddenly one of the Incas turned, facing us squarely,
and gave a start of surprise. We leaped forward.
Half a dozen bounds and we were upon them, before they had had
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain: fast, and the fog got solider and solider, so solid that
Jim looked dim and ragged and smoky through it. It
was awful still, and we talked low and was anxious.
Now and then Jim would say:
"Highst her a p'int, Mars Tom, highst her!" and
up she would skip, a foot or two, and we would slide
right over a flat-roofed mud cabin, with people that
had been asleep on it just beginning to turn out and
gap and stretch; and once when a feller was clear up
on his hind legs so he could gap and stretch better, we
took him a blip in the back and knocked him off. By
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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 Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: hand to the bread and butter, looks at it, and finds it is cake.
Rises in indignation.]
GWENDOLEN. You have filled my tea with lumps of sugar, and though
I asked most distinctly for bread and butter, you have given me
cake. I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the
extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew,
you may go too far.
CECILY. [Rising.] To save my poor, innocent, trusting boy from
the machinations of any other girl there are no lengths to which I
would not go.
GWENDOLEN. From the moment I saw you I distrusted you. I felt
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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 Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: blackfaces--they believed a hantle queer things in thae days,
that naebody heeds since the lang sheep cam in."
"The mair's the pity, the mair's the pity," said the old man.
"Your father, and sae I have aften tell'd ye, maister, wad hae
been sair vexed to hae seen the auld peel-house wa's pu'd down to
make park dykes; and the bonny broomy knowe, where he liked sae
weel to sit at e'en, wi' his plaid about him, and look at the kye
as they cam down the loaning, ill wad he hae liked to hae seen
that braw sunny knowe a' riven out wi' the pleugh in the fashion
it is at this day."
"Hout, Bauldie," replied the principal, "tak ye that dram the
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