Today's Stichomancy for Fritz Lang

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy:

felt in boyhood towards the moujiks became tinged with contempt when his attempts to im- prove their condition--some of which are de- scribed in "Anna Karenina" and in the "Land- lord's Morning"--ended in failure, owing to the ignorance and obstinacy of the people. It was not till he passed through the ordeal of war in Turkey and the Crimea that he discovered in the common soldier who fought by his side an un- conscious heroism, an unquestioning faith in God, a kindliness and simplicity of heart rarely pos-

The Forged Coupon

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon:

they are close upon the quarry.

[13] Lit. "Let them follow up the trail."

[14] Lit. "fawning and wagging their tails."

[15] Lit. "bed" or "lair."

[16] Or, "by rapid shiftings of attitude, by looks now thrown backward and now forwards to the . . ." Reading {kai apo ton anablemmaton kai emblemmaton ton epi tas kathedras tou l.}, or if with L. D., {kai apo ton a. kai emblemmaton eis ton ulen kai anastremmaton ton epi tas k.}, transl. "now looking back at the huntsman and now staring hard into the covert, and again right-about-face in the direction of the hare's sitting-place."

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor:

only ask you to keep up the appearance of the thing for a month or so."

"But, father,"--Jacob began.

"Not a word! Are you not willing to do that much for the sake of having her all your life, and this farm after me? Suppose it is covered with a mortgage, if she is all you say, you two can work it off. Not a word more! It is no lie, after all, that you will tell her."

"I am afraid," said Jacob, "that she could not leave her home now. She is too useful there, and the family is so poor."

"Tell them that both your wages, for the first year, shall go to

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 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne:

he was to preach the Election Sermon; and, as such an occasion formed 260 THE SCARLET LETTER an honourable epoch in the life of a New England Clergyman, he could not have chanced upon a more suitable mode and time of

The Scarlet Letter