| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: me. Yet I knew, having heard him the night before, that he spoke
English. Moreover, I noticed that he did not appear surprised to see
me out of my cabin. Turning his back upon me, he continued to search
the horizon.
I stepped then toward the stern, determined to ask the same question
about the Captain. But when I approached the steersman, he waved me
away with his hand, and I obtained no other response.
It only remained for me to study this craft, from which we had been
repelled with revolver shots, when we had seized upon its anchor rope.
I therefore set leisurely to work to examine the construction of this
machine, which was carrying me--whither? The deck and the upper works
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: came away, I left my heart at home in a desk, or sent it forward
with my portmanteau to await me at my destination. After my
journey is over, I shall not fail to read your admirable letters
with the attention they deserve. But I have paid all this money,
look you, and paddled all these strokes, for no other purpose than
to be abroad; and yet you keep me at home with your perpetual
communications. You tug the string, and I feel that I am a
tethered bird. You pursue me all over Europe with the little
vexations that I came away to avoid. There is no discharge in the
war of life, I am well aware; but shall there not be so much as a
week's furlough?
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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 The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Then cover up your ears and brace yourselves
firmly. Now, then--look out!"
The Woozy turned toward Chiss, opened wide its
mouth and said:
"Quee-ee-ee-eek."
"Go ahead and growl," said Scraps.
"Why, I--I did growl!" retorted the Woozy,
who seemed much astonished.
"What, that little squeak?" she cried.
"It is the most awful growl that ever was heard,
on land or sea, in caverns or in the sky,"
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
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 Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: And a mighty rough-looking lot, too. They had a jug, and tin cups,
and they kept the jug moving. One man was singing--roaring, you may say;
and it wasn't a nice song--for a parlor anyway. He roared through
his nose, and strung out the last word of every line very long.
When he was done they all fetched a kind of Injun war-whoop, and then
another was sung. It begun:--
'There was a woman in our towdn,
In our towdn did dwed'l (dwell,)
She loved her husband dear-i-lee,
But another man twyste as wed'l.
Singing too, riloo, riloo, riloo,
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