| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: of God and man. And one thing worst of all he did, which
brought him to his grave with sorrow. For he went down (they
say beneath the earth) with that bold Peirithoos his friend
to help him to carry off Persephone, the queen of the world
below. But Peirithoos was killed miserably, in the dark
fire-kingdoms under ground; and Theseus was chained to a rock
in everlasting pain. And there he sat for years, till
Heracles the mighty came down to bring up the three-headed
dog who sits at Pluto's gate. So Heracles loosed him from
his chain, and brought him up to the light once more.
But when he came back his people had forgotten him, and
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: a scratching at a shuttered window, the net was quickly spread.
On account of the general alarm and precautions, there were only
two more victims, and the capture was effected without major casualties.
The thing was finally stopped by a bullet, though not a fatal
one, and was rushed to the local hospital amidst universal excitement
and loathing.
For it had been a man. This much was clear despite
the nauseous eyes, the voiceless simianism, and the daemoniac
savagery. They dressed its wound and carted it to the asylum at
Sefton, where it beat its head against the walls of a padded cell
for sixteen years -- until the recent mishap, when it escaped
Herbert West: Reanimator |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: what they had done, by way of scoff and bravado; and one of them
stepping up to one of the Spaniards, as if they had been a couple
of boys at play, takes hold of his hat as it was upon his head, and
giving it a twirl about, fleering in his face, says to him, "And
you, Seignior Jack Spaniard, shall have the same sauce if you do
not mend your manners." The Spaniard, who, though a quiet civil
man, was as brave a man as could be, and withal a strong, well-made
man, looked at him for a good while, and then, having no weapon in
his hand, stepped gravely up to him, and, with one blow of his
fist, knocked him down, as an ox is felled with a pole-axe; at
which one of the rogues, as insolent as the first, fired his pistol
Robinson Crusoe |
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 Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: din and smoke. Then the old bird plumed his feathers. At last he
had understood! With a flap of his great, black wings he shot
downward, circling toward the plain.
A man was picking his way across the plain. He was dressed in
the garb of a clergyman. His mission was to administer the
consolations of religion to any of the prostrate figures in whom
there might yet linger a spark of life. A negro accompanied him,
bearing a bucket of water and a flask of wine.
There were no wounded here; they had been borne away. But the
retreat had been hurried and the vultures and the good Samaritans
would have to look to the dead.
Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
