| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: CIGARETTE, for I tried to make believe that I was amused with the
adventure, tough beefsteak and all. According to the Lucretian
maxim, our steak should have been flavoured by the look of the
other people's bread-berry. But we did not find it so in practice.
You may have a head-knowledge that other people live more poorly
than yourself, but it is not agreeable - I was going to say, it is
against the etiquette of the universe - to sit at the same table
and pick your own superior diet from among their crusts. I had not
seen such a thing done since the greedy boy at school with his
birthday cake. It was odious enough to witness, I could remember;
and I had never thought to play the part myself. But there again
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: The Bishop droned on laboriously, mispronouncing words
and repeating himself as if he were reading a catalogue
of unfamiliar seeds.
"First church of Tecumseh--Brother Abram G. Tisdale!"
There was no doubt about it! These were actually the
words that had been uttered. After all this outlay,
all this lavish hospitality, all this sacrifice of time
and patience in sitting through those sermons, to draw
from the grab-bag nothing better than--a Tisdale!
A hum of outraged astonishment--half groan, half wrathful
snort bounded along from pew to pew throughout the body
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: might communicate; for, at the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he
had known such odd things to happen, that he would not have
considered it much out of the common run had this little
feathered creature talked as plainly as himself.
"Peep!" said the bird, "peep, peep, pe--weep!" And nothing else
would it say, but only, "Peep, peep, pe--weep!" in a melancholy
cadence, and over and over and over again. As often as Ulysses
moved forward, however, the bird showed the greatest alarm, and
did its best to drive him back, with the anxious flutter of its
purple wings. Its unaccountable behavior made him conclude, at
last, that the bird knew of some danger that awaited him, and
Tanglewood Tales |
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 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Suppose the stairs get steeper?" suggested Zeb, doubtfully.
"Then you'll have to boost the buggy-wheels, that's all," answered Jim.
"We'll try it, anyway," said the Wizard. "It's the only way to get
out of the Valley of Voe."
So they began to ascend the stairs, Dorothy and the Wizard first, Jim
next, drawing the buggy, and then Zeb to watch that nothing happened
to the harness.
The light was dim, and soon they mounted into total darkness, so that
the Wizard was obliged to get out his lanterns to light the way. But
this enabled them to proceed steadily until they came to a landing
where there was a rift in the side of the mountain that let in both
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
