| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: viva voce?"
"I believe you, madame, to be a great and powerful queen,
and that it will be unworthy of your power and greatness if
you do not recompense the arms which will bring back his
eminence to Saint Germain."
"It is my intention so to do; come, let us hear you. Speak."
"He who has negotiated these matters (forgive me if I begin
by speaking of myself, but I must claim that importance
which has been given to me, not assumed by me) he who has
arranged matters for the return of the cardinal, ought, it
appears to me, in order that his reward may not be unworthy
Twenty Years After |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: Hurriedly he strapped on the saddle-bags, gave quick glance to
girths and cinches and stirrups, then leaped astride.
"Lift little Fay up," he said.
With shaking arms Jane complied.
"Get back your nerve, woman! This's life or death now. Mind that.
Climb up! Keep your wits. Stick close to me. Watch where your
hoss's goin' en' ride!"
Somehow Jane mounted; somehow found strength to hold the reins,
to spur, to cling on, to ride. A horrible quaking, craven fear
possessed her soul. Lassiter led the swift flight across the wide
space, over washes, through sage, into a narrow canyon where the
Riders of the Purple Sage |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: Leave my sight! Go--before I spit on you!"
The young man did not tarry. Then the judge turned to Howard:
"You will be my second, old friend?"
"Of course."
"There is pen and paper. Draft the cartel, and lose no time."
"The Count shall have it in his hands in fifteen minutes," said Howard.
Tom was very heavyhearted. His appetite was gone with his property
and his self-respect. He went out the back way and wandered down the
obscure lane grieving, and wondering if any course of future conduct,
however discreet and carefully perfected and watched over,
could win back his uncle's favor and persuade him to reconstruct once
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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 The Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: One more immortal nonsense in a world
Where all was mortal, or had best be so,
And so be done with. `Art,' he would have said,
`Is not life, and must therefore be a lie;'
And with a few profundities like that
He would have controverted and dismissed
The benefit of the Greeks. He had heard of them,
As he had heard of his aspiring soul --
Never to the perceptible advantage,
In his esteem, of either. `Faith,' he said,
Or would have said if he had thought of it,
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