| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: kill a prince impenitently heretical, and the like insanities and
villainies, which may be read at large in Camden, the Phoenix
Britannicus, Fox's Martyrs, or, surest of all, in the writings of
the worthies themselves.
With a gesture of disgust, Raleigh crammed the foul stuff back
again into the pouch. Taking it with them, they walked back to the
company, and then remounting, marched away once more towards the
lands of the Desmonds; and the girl was left alone with the dead.
An hour had passed, when another Englishman was standing by the
wailing girl, and round him a dozen shockheaded kernes, skene on
thigh and javelin in hand, were tossing about their tawny rags, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: he struck into the speech he had prepared; 'and certainly I owe you
every excuse for thus disturbing you upon so small a matter. But
the thing was neglected yesterday; I must produce my little
compliment at dinner; and, as you very well know, a rich marriage
is not a thing to be neglected.'
There followed a pause, during which the dealer seemed to weigh
this statement incredulously. The ticking of many clocks among the
curious lumber of the shop, and the faint rushing of the cabs in a
near thoroughfare, filled up the interval of silence.
'Well, sir,' said the dealer, 'be it so. You are an old customer
after all; and if, as you say, you have the chance of a good
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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 Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: They had seen other luggers making eastward during the
morning--could recognize some by their sails, others by their
gait,--exaggerated in their struggle with the pitching of the
sea: the San Pablo, the Gasparina, the Enriqueta, the Agueda,
the Constanza. Ugly water, yes!--but what a chance for wreckers!
... Some great ship must have gone to pieces;--scores of casks
were rolling in the trough,--casks of wine. Perhaps it was the
Manila,--perhaps the Nautilus!
A dead cow floated near enough for Mateo to throw his rope over
one horn; and they all helped to get it out. It was a milch cow
of some expensive breed; and the owner's brand had been burned
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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 Abroad by Mark Twain: "Huck, who is you hollerin' at?"
"I'm hollerin' at Tom."
"Oh, Huck, how kin you act so, when you know
po' Mars Tom --" Then he let off an awful scream,
and flung his head and his arms back and let off another
one, because there was a white glare just then, and he
had raised up his face just in time to see Tom's, as
white as snow, rise above the gunnel and look him right
in the eye. He thought it was Tom's ghost, you
see.
Tom clumb aboard, and when Jim found it WAS him,
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