| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: railroad failed. I had enough left to pay the taxes, and that
was all. After I had used a small sum in the savings-bank there
was nothing. One day I went over to the Lancasters', and
I--well, I had not had much to eat for several days. I was a
little faint, and --"
"Eudora, you poor, darling girl!"
"And the Lancaster girls found out," continued Eudora, calmly.
"They gave me something to eat, and I suppose I ate as if I were
famished. I was."
"Eudora!"
"And they wanted to give me money, but I would not take it, 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 The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: the pleasure of riding over the Bridge of Mestre," answered Muller.
He did not add that he was not alone at the time, but had ridden
across the long bridge in company with a pale haggard-faced man who
did not dare to look to the right or to the left because of the
revolver which he knew was held in the detective's hand under his
loose overcoat. Muller's visit to Venice, like most of his
journeyings, had been one of business. This time to capture and
bring home a notorious and long sought embezzler. He did not
volunteer any of this information, however, but merely asked in a
politely interested manner whether the landlord himself had been
to Venice.
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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 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: now presented, bonnetless, her dishevelled hair blowing in the wind,
her bodice apart her sleeves rolled above her elbows for her work, and her
hands reeking with melted fat. One of the passers said in mock terror:
"Good Lord deliver us!"
"See how he's served me!" she cried. "Making me work Sunday mornings
when I ought to be going to my church, and tearing my hair off my head,
and my gown off my back!"
Jude was exasperated, and went out to drag her in by main force.
Then he suddenly lost his heat. Illuminated with the sense that all
was over between them, and that it mattered not what she did, or he,
her husband stood still, regarding her. Their lives were ruined,
Jude the Obscure |
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 Night and Day by Virginia Woolf: and glanced at him, as if to ascertain what his passion was for--"for
the truth," she added, as if she had found what she sought
indisputably.
"I've told you I'm a liar," Ralph repeated obstinately.
"Oh, in little things, I dare say," she said impatiently. "But not in
real ones, and that's what matters. I dare say I'm more truthful than
you are in small ways. But I could never care"--she was surprised to
find herself speaking the word, and had to force herself to speak it
out--"for any one who was a liar in that way. I love the truth a
certain amount--a considerable amount--but not in the way you love
it." Her voice sank, became inaudible, and wavered as if she could
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