| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: all her gentleness she was very proud. No one said a word about
it, but Sallie offered to dress her hair, and Annie to tie her
sash, and Belle, the engaged sister, praised her white arms. But
in their kindness Meg saw only pity for her poverty, and her
heart felt very heavy as she stood by herself, while the others
laughed, chattered, and flew about like gauzy butterflies. The
hard, bitter feeling was getting pretty bad, when the maid
brought in a box of flowers. Before she could speak, Annie had
the cover off, and all were exclaiming at the lovely roses, heath,
and fern within.
"It's for Belle, of course, George always sends her some,
Little Women |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: a portion of cold meat that we had carried from the Cage; and as
for drink, Heaven knows we had no want of water.
This was a dreadful time, rendered the more dreadful by the gloom
of the weather and the country. I was never warm; my teeth
chattered in my head; I was troubled with a very sore throat,
such as I had on the isle; I had a painful stitch in my side,
which never left me; and when I slept in my wet bed, with the
rain beating above and the mud oozing below me, it was to live
over again in fancy the worst part of my adventures -- to see the
tower of Shaws lit by lightning, Ransome carried below on the
men's backs, Shuan dying on the round-house floor, or Colin
Kidnapped |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: determined to support your interests. That is why he is so anxious to
get here and give you his vote at the councils."
"Is he sincere?" asked Catherine. "You know very well that if the
Lorrains have put him in the council it is that he may help them to
reign."
"L'Hopital is a Frenchman who comes of too good a stock not to be
honest and sincere," said Chiverni; "Besides, his note is a
sufficiently strong pledge."
"What answer did the Connetable send to the Guises?"
"He replied that he was the servant of the king and would await his
orders. On receiving that answer the cardinal, to suppress all
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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 Riverman by Stewart Edward White: her numerous calls, and suspected the bell had been removed.
Finally Orde left the office at a loss how to proceed next.
Lambert, secretly overjoyed at this opportunity of exercising an
unaccustomed and autocratic power, refused to see beyond his
instructions. Heinzman's attitude puzzled Orde. A foreclosure
could gain Heinzman no advantage of immediate cash. Orde was forced
to the conclusion that the German saw here a good opportunity to
acquire cheap a valuable property. In that case a personal appeal
would avail little.
Orde tramped out to the end of the pier and back, mulling over the
tangled problem. He was pressed on all sides--by the fatigue after
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