| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: These guardians of the cow lounged about, each with a brown cigarette
paper in his hand, and gently but unceasingly cursed Sam Revell, the
storekeeper. Sam stood in the door, snapping the red elastic bands on
his pink madras shirtsleeves and looking down affectionately at the
only pair of tan shoes within a forty-mile radius. His offence had
been serious, and he was divided between humble apology and admiration
for the beauty of his raiment. He had allowed the ranch stock of
"smoking" to become exhausted.
"I thought sure there was another case of it under the counter, boys,"
he explained. "But it happened to be catterdges."
"You've sure got a case of happenedicitis," said Poky Rodgers, fency
Heart of the West |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: are those of a madman; that for nearly ten years he has given his
thoughts exclusively to China, its customs, manners, and history; that
he refers everything to a Chinese origin; that when he is questioned
on the subject, he confuses the events of the day and the business of
yesterday with facts relating to China; that he censures the acts of
the Government and the conduct of the King, though he is personally
much attached to him, by comparing them with the politics of China;
" 'That this monomania has driven the Marquis d'Espard to conduct
devoid of all sense: against the customs of men of rank, and, in
opposition to his own professed ideas as to the duties of the
nobility, he has joined a commercial undertaking, for which he
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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 Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: communications are far more swift, I think, in blind people, because
their blindness compels them to concentrate their attention. I had not
long to wait for proof that we were in sympathy in this way. Facino
Cane left off playing, and came up to me. "Let us go out!" he said;
his tones thrilled through me like an electric shock. I gave him my
arm, and we went.
Outside in the street he said, "Will you take me back to Venice? Will
you be my guide? Will you put faith in me? You shall be richer than
ten of the richest houses in Amsterdam or London, richer than
Rothschild; in short, you shall have the fabulous wealth of the
/Arabian Nights/."
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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 Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain: But he had two pals aboard the boat, hiding, and he
knowed they was going to kill him the first chance they
got and take the di'monds; because all three stole them,
and then this fellow he got hold of them and skipped.
"Well, he hadn't been gone more'n ten minutes before
his pals found it out, and they jumped ashore and lit
out after him. Prob'ly they burnt matches and found
his tracks. Anyway, they dogged along after him all
day Saturday and kept out of his sight; and towards
sundown he come to the bunch of sycamores down by Uncle
Silas's field, and he went in there to get a disguise
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