| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: floats by. I feel mighty mean to leave you; but my
kingdom! it won't do to fool with small-pox, don't
you see?"
"Hold on, Parker," says the other man, "here's a
twenty to put on the board for me. Good-bye, boy;
you do as Mr. Parker told you, and you'll be all
right."
"That's so, my boy -- good-bye, good-bye. If you
see any runaway niggers you get help and nab them,
and you can make some money by it."
"Good-bye, sir," says I; "I won't let no runaway
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: like her, scoundrelly dog that he is, and you see, after all, you
can't reform him: he's ten times worse than I. He's afraid of
you, to be sure; that is, he's always on his best behaviour in your
presence - but - '
'I wonder what his worst behaviour is like, then?' I could not
forbear observing.
'Why, to tell you the truth, it's very bad indeed - isn't it,
Hargrave?' said he, addressing that gentleman, who had entered the
room unperceived by me, for I was now standing near the fire, with
my back to the door. 'Isn't Huntingdon,' he continued, 'as great a
reprobate as ever was d-d?'
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: diminutive she-ass, not much bigger than a dog, the colour of a
mouse, with a kindly eye and a determined under-jaw. There was
something neat and high-bred, a quakerish elegance, about the rogue
that hit my fancy on the spot. Our first interview was in
Monastier market-place. To prove her good temper, one child after
another was set upon her back to ride, and one after another went
head over heels into the air; until a want of confidence began to
reign in youthful bosoms, and the experiment was discontinued from
a dearth of subjects. I was already backed by a deputation of my
friends; but as if this were not enough, all the buyers and sellers
came round and helped me in the bargain; and the ass and I and
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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 Altar of the Dead by Henry James: to have shown her without precautions, oughtn't indeed to have
shown her at all. His precautions should have been those of a
forger or a murderer, and the people at home would never have
mentioned extradition. This was a wife for foreign service or
purely external use; a decent consideration would have spared her
the injury of comparisons. Such was the first flush of George
Stransom's reaction; but as he sat alone that night - there were
particular hours he always passed alone - the harshness dropped
from it and left only the pity. HE could spend an evening with
Kate Creston, if the man to whom she had given everything couldn't.
He had known her twenty years, and she was the only woman for whom
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