| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: something moved in the path above him. It was a fair child,
stretched nearly lifeless on the rock, its breast heaving with
thirst, its eyes closed, and its lips parched and burning. Hans
eyed it deliberately, drank, and passed on. And a dark gray cloud
came over the sun, and long, snakelike shadows crept up along the
mountain sides. Hans struggled on. The sun was sinking, but its
descent seemed to bring no coolness; the leaden height of the dead
air pressed upon his brow and heart, but the goal was near. He saw
the cataract of the Golden River springing from the hillside
scarcely five hundred feet above him. He paused for a moment to
breathe, and sprang on to complete his task.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: crevasses, obliterated all signs of the two lakes and covered the
rocks, so that between the high summits there was nothing but an
immense, white, regular, dazzling, and frozen surface. For three
weeks, Ulrich had not been to the edge of the precipice, from
which he had looked down on to the village, and he wanted to go
there before climbing the slopes which led to the Wildstrubel.
Loeche was now covered by the snow, and the houses could scarcely
be distinguished, hidden as they were by that white cloak.
Turning to the right, Ulrich reached the Lammern glacier. He
strode along with a mountaineer's long swinging pace, striking
the snow, which was as hard as a rock, with his iron-shod stick,
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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 Call of the Wild by Jack London: Buck swung to the right, ending the movement in a plunge that took
up the slack and with a sudden jerk arrested his one hundred and
fifty pounds. The load quivered, and from under the runners arose
a crisp crackling.
"Haw!" Thornton commanded.
Buck duplicated the manoeuvre, this time to the left. The
crackling turned into a snapping, the sled pivoting and the
runners slipping and grating several inches to the side. The sled
was broken out. Men were holding their breaths, intensely
unconscious of the fact.
"Now, MUSH!"
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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 Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: "Gracious man, we've tried; but the absurd old will expressly
stipulates that he shall be known only by a certain quaint Roman
ring, and unless he has it, no identification, no fortune. He
has given the ring away, and that settles it."
"Well, you 're all chumps. Why doesn't he get the ring from the
owner?"
"Easily said; but--it seems that Neale had some little Creole
love-affair some years ago, and gave this ring to his dusky-eyed
fiancee. You know how Neale is with his love-affairs, went off
and forgot the girl in a month. It seems, however, she took it
to heart,--so much so that he's ashamed to try to find her or the
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
