| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Main Street by Sinclair Lewis: years, and owned his shop; but this person was merely Nat's
workman, and the town's principle of perfect democracy was
not meant to be applied indiscriminately.
The conference on a dramatic club theoretically included
Kennicott, but he sat back, patting yawns, conscious of Fern's
ankles, smiling amiably on the children at their sport.
Fern wanted to tell her grievances; Carol was sulky every
time she thought of "The Girl from Kankakee"; it was Erik
who made suggestions. He had read with astounding breadth,
and astounding lack of judgment. His voice was sensitive to
liquids, but he overused the word "glorious." He mispronounced
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way, rather like Tom's, and she
laughed with thrilling scorn. "Sophisticated--God, I'm sophisticated!"
The instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention,
my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said.
It made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick
of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me. I waited,
and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk
on her lovely face, as if she had asserted her membership in a rather
distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.
Inside, the crimson room bloomed with light.
Tom and Miss Baker sat at either end of the long couch and she read
The Great Gatsby |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: without knowing it, for a sudden terrible light had burst upon his
soul, burst upon it so sharply that he hid his eyes with his hands,
and his old lips murmured, "Horrible! Horrible! The brother
against the sister."
The next morning was clear and bright. Muller was up early, for he
had taken but a few hours sleep in one of the rooms of the station,
before he set out into the cold winter morning. At the next corner
he found Amster waiting for him. "What are you doing here?" he
asked in astonishment.
I have been thinking over what you said to me yesterday. Your
profession is as good and perhaps better than many another."
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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 Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: Had twin thunderbolts fallen through the twin roofs of the twin
palaces and struck the twin Ki and the twin Ki-Ki upon their twin
heads it would have created no more stupendous a sensation than did
this remark. Never before had any two halves of a twin of the Land of
Twi thought differently or spoken differently. Indeed, it startled
the two maidens themselves as much as it did their hearers, for each
one turned her head toward the other and, for the first time in her
life, looked into the other's face!
This act was fully as strange as their speech, and a sudden horrible
thought came into the startled heads of the twin Ki and the twin
Ki-Ki: THE HIGH KI OF TWI WAS NO LONGER ONE, BUT TWO. AND THESE TWO
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
