| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: families as servants to be maintained for their labour, but without
being absolute slaves; for I would not permit them to make them
slaves by force, by any means; because they had their liberty given
them by capitulation, as it were articles of surrender, which they
ought not to break.
They most willingly embraced the proposal, and came all very
cheerfully along with him: so we allotted them land and
plantations, which three or four accepted of, but all the rest
chose to be employed as servants in the several families we had
settled. Thus my colony was in a manner settled as follows: The
Spaniards possessed my original habitation, which was the capital
Robinson Crusoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: fists angrily in the direction of the town.
In return the Tatar nodded gravely and issued an order to his men.
By this time the warriors were busily pitching tents before the walls
of Yarkand and making preparations for a formal siege. In obedience
to the chieftain's orders, Rob was given a place within one of the
tents nearest the wall and supplied with a brace of brass-mounted
pistols and a dagger with a sharp, zigzag edge. These were evidently
to assist the boy in fighting the Turks, and he was well pleased to
have them. His spirits rose considerably when he found he had fallen
among friends, although most of his new comrades had such evil faces
that it was unnecessary to put on the Character Markers to judge their
The Master Key |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: who stood mute with admiration, and said to them,--
"It is not yet equal to my Beautiful Nut-girl; still, one can put
one's name to such a work. Yes, I will sign it," he added, rising to
fetch a mirror in which to look at what he had done. "Now let us go
and breakfast. Come, both of you, to my house. I have some smoked ham
and good wine. Hey! hey! in spite of the degenerate times we will talk
painting; we are strong ourselves. Here is a little man," he
continued, striking Nicolas Poussin on the shoulder, "who has the
faculty."
Observing the shabby cap of the youth, he pulled from his belt a
leathern purse from which he took two gold pieces and offered them to
|
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 One Basket by Edna Ferber: ridicule. Perhaps one should know him in his overalled,
stubble-bearded days, with the rich black loam of the Mississippi
bottomlands clinging to his boots.
At twenty-five, given a tasseled cap, doublet and hose, and a
long, slim pipe, Ben Westerveld would have been the prototype of
one of those rollicking, lusty young mynheers that laugh out at
you from a Frans Hals canvas. A roguish fellow with a merry eye;
red-cheeked, vigorous. A serious mouth, though, and great
sweetness of expression. As he grew older, the seriousness crept
up and up and almost entirely obliterated the roguishness. By
the time the life of ease claimed him, even the ghost of that
One Basket |
