| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: me at his pleasure
Pet. I saw no man vse you at his pleasure: if I had, my
weapon should quickly haue beene out, I warrant you, I
dare draw assoone as another man, if I see occasion in a
good quarrell, and the law on my side
Nur. Now afore God, I am so vext, that euery part about
me quiuers, skuruy knaue: pray you sir a word: and as I
told you, my young Lady bid me enquire you out, what
she bid me say, I will keepe to my selfe: but first let me
tell ye, if ye should leade her in a fooles paradise, as they
say, it were a very grosse kind of behauiour, as they say:
Romeo and Juliet |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: his hat over his eyes, his arms folded, looking moodily ahead. Was
it imagination? or was the small man huddled in the corner of the
rear seat Hotchkiss?
As the car rolled on I found myself smiling. The alert little man
was for all the world like a terrier, ever on the scent, and scouring
about in every direction.
I found McKnight at the Incubator, with his coat off, working with
enthusiasm and a manicure file over the horn of his auto.
"It's the worst horn I ever ran across," he groaned, without looking
up, as I came in. "The blankety-blank thing won't blow."
He punched it savagely, finally eliciting a faint throaty croak.
The Man in Lower Ten |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: Christian with a breath, grew no longer to our choice.
Something of melancholy overhung for the Admiral this part
of Hispaniola. He was seeking a site for a city, but now
he liked it not here. The seventeen ships put on sail and,
a stately flight of birds greater than herons, pursued their
way, easterly now, along the coast of Hispaniola.
Between thirty and forty leagues from the ruin of La
Navidad opened to us a fair, large harbor where two rivers
entered the sea. There was a great forest and bright protruding
rock, and across the south the mountains. When
we landed and explored we found a small Indian village that
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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 Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: him simultaneously and without explanations. Edouard solved the
problem by opening both cans and cooking them together. We had a
new soup that day, MULLAGATAWNY AUX APRICOTS. It was not as bad as
it sounds. It tasted somewhat like chutney.
The real reason why food that is cooked over an open fire tastes so
good to us is because we are really hungry when we get it. The man
who puts up provisions for camp has a great advantage over the
dealers who must satisfy the pampered appetite of people in houses.
I never can get any bacon in New York like that which I buy at a
little shop in Quebec to take into the woods. If I ever set up in
the grocery business, I shall try to get a good trade among anglers.
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