| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: done it then; but I never had, and there I stood, angry, sore in my leg,
my head still strained up to the terret on the saddle,
and no power to get it down. I was very miserable and felt much inclined
to kick the first person who came near me.
Before long, however, Ginger was led in by two grooms, a good deal
knocked about and bruised. York came with her and gave his orders,
and then came to look at me. In a moment he let down my head.
"Confound these check-reins!" he said to himself; "I thought we should have
some mischief soon. Master will be sorely vexed. But there,
if a woman's husband can't rule her of course a servant can't;
so I wash my hands of it, and if she can't get to the duchess' garden party
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: household for knowing of the latter and for not speaking of it to him.
But something impelled him to bury himself in his misfortune; and in
an inquisitorial fit he visited the sheds behind the mercantile house
to see the supplies of bitumen, wood, anchors and cordage, honey and
wax, the cloth warehouse, the stores of food, the marble yard and the
silphium barn.
He went to the other side of the gardens to make an inspection in
their cottages, of the domestic artisans whose productions were sold.
There were tailors embroidering cloaks, others making nets, others
painting cushions or cutting out sandals, and Egyptian workmen
polished papyrus with a shell, while the weavers' shuttles rattled and
Salammbo |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: Queen Santa had appointed as /mayordomo/ of the ranch a trusty
subject, named Ramsay, who had been one of her father's faithful
vassals. And there was scarcely a ripple on the Nopalito ranch save
when the gulf-breeze created undulations in the grass of its wide
acres.
For several years the Nopalito had been making experiments with an
English breed of cattle that looked down with aristocratic contempt
upon the Texas long-horns. The experiments were found satisfactory;
and a pasture had been set aside for the blue-bloods. The fame of them
had gone forth into the chaparral and pear as far as men ride in
saddles. Other ranches woke up, rubbed their eyes, and looked with new
Heart of the West |
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 Mansion by Henry van Dyke: died
then he must have died too. Yet he could not rid his mind of
the sense that there was a difference between them and him,
and it made him afraid to go on. But, as he paused and turned,
the Keeper of the Gate looked straight and deep into his eyes,
and beckoned to him. Then he knew that it was not only right but
necessary that he should enter.
They passed from street to street among fair and spacious
dwellings,
set in amaranthine gardens, and adorned with an infinitely varied
beauty of
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