| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: think our poor master will stand but an ill chance with yon fellow.
By Our Lady, he plucked up yon green tree as it were a barley straw."
Whatever Robin Hood thought, he stood his ground, and now he and the stranger
in scarlet stood face to face.
Well did Robin Hood hold his own that day as a mid-country yeoman.
This way and that they fought, and back and forth,
Robin's skill against the stranger's strength.
The dust of the highway rose up around them like a cloud,
so that at times Little John and the Tanner could see nothing,
but only hear the rattle of the staves against one another.
Thrice Robin Hood struck the stranger; once upon the arm and twice
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: along which we shall follow out the course of our lives,
and again learned that it is not always best to follow
the line of least resistance.
By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice
I was convinced that I was upon the wrong trail,
for between Phutra and the inland sea I had not slept
at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace my steps
to the summit of the divide and explore another canyon
seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden
widening and levelness of the canyon just before me seemed
to suggest that it was about to open into a level country,
At the Earth's Core |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: attempting the part of prima-donna, and she did so on several
occasions. To the great satisfaction of her husband, she began to
mingle in conversations. Intelligent ideas and delicate observations
put into her mind by her intercourse with her husband, made her
remarked upon, and success emboldened her. Vandenesse, to whom the
world admitted that his wife was beautiful, was delighted when the
same assurance was given that she was clever and witty. On their
return from a ball, concert, or rout where Marie had shone
brilliantly, she would turn to her husband, as she took off her
ornaments, and say, with a joyous, self-assured air,--
"Were you pleased with me this evening?"
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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 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: business is to realise the world as we see it, not to reform it as
we know it. A CHACUN SON METIER. And now tell me how Laura is.
The old model was quite interested in her.'
'You don't mean to say you talked to him about her?' said Hughie.
'Certainly I did. He knows all about the relentless colonel, the
lovely Laura, and the 10,000 pounds.'
'You told that old beggar all my private affairs?' cried Hughie,
looking very red and angry.
'My dear boy,' said Trevor, smiling, 'that old beggar, as you call
him, is one of the richest men in Europe. He could buy all London
to-morrow without overdrawing his account. He has a house in every
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