| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: The soft cadences and turns in my lady Katrina's speech draw me
into the humour of her gentle judgments of men and things. The
touches of quaintness in Angelica's dress, her folded kerchief and
smooth-parted hair, seem to partake of herself, and enhance my
admiration for the sweet order of her thoughts and her old-
fashioned ideals of love and duty. Even so the stream and its
channel are one life, and I cannot think of the swift, brown flood
of the Batiscan without its shadowing primeval forests, or the
crystalline current of the Boquet without its beds of pebbles and
golden sand and grassy banks embroidered with flowers.
Every country--or at least every country that is fit for
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: cut from. I was surprised, and yet very well pleased, to see the
young trees grow; and I pruned them, and led them up to grow as
much alike as I could; and it is scarce credible how beautiful a
figure they grew into in three years; so that though the hedge made
a circle of about twenty-five yards in diameter, yet the trees, for
such I might now call them, soon covered it, and it was a complete
shade, sufficient to lodge under all the dry season. This made me
resolve to cut some more stakes, and make me a hedge like this, in
a semi-circle round my wall (I mean that of my first dwelling),
which I did; and placing the trees or stakes in a double row, at
about eight yards distance from my first fence, they grew
Robinson Crusoe |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Carter, Prince of Helium, and Carthoris, her son.
"Dejah Thoris could not believe her at first, but finally
when the girl had narrated all the strange adventures that
had befallen her since she had met John Carter, and told her
of the things John Carter, and Carthoris, and Xodar had
narrated of their adventures in the Land of the First Born,
Dejah Thoris knew that it could be none other than the
Prince of Helium; 'For who,' she said, 'upon all Barsoom
other than John Carter could have done the deeds you tell of.'
And when Thuvia told Dejah Thoris of her love for John
Carter, and his loyalty and devotion to the Princess of his
The Gods of Mars |
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 Under the Andes by Rex Stout: heard Harry shouting something, but could not make out the words;
we were shooting forward with the speed of an express train and the
air about us was full of flying water.
The roar of the rapids became louder and louder. I turned for
an instant, shouting at the top of my voice: "Flat on your faces,
and hold on for dear life!" Then I dropped down with my oar under
me, passing my feet under two of the straps and clinging to two
others with my hands.
Another few seconds passed that seemed an hour. The raft was
swaying and lurching with the mad force of the current. I called
out again to Harry and Desiree, but my words were completely
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