| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: have guessed the truth. As it was, he felt completely bewildered; but
not committing the blunder of losing his time in useless conjectures,
he went on without a moment's delay to Hanwell, which establishment is
only about nine miles from London, pleasantly situated at the foot of
a hill on the borders of Middlesex and Surrey.
After a long detention in the waiting-room, he was at last enabled to
see his friend at a moment when Marie-Gaston's insanity, which for
several days had been in the stages of mania, was yielding to the care
of the doctor, and showed some symptoms of a probable recovery. As
soon as Sallenauve was alone with the organist, he inquired the reason
that led him to follow him; and he heard, with some emotion, the news
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: The huge frame of the old cattleman jerked as if he had been
stabbed. His face turned purple.
"What criminal?" he shouted, hoarsely.
The sheriff flicked his quirt against his dirty boot, and he
twisted his thin lips into a leer. The situation was agreeable
to him.
"Why, Bill, I knowed you hed a no-good outfit ridin' this range;
but I wasn't wise thet you hed more 'n one criminal."
"Cut that talk! Which cowboy are you wantin' to arrest?"
Hawe's manner altered.
"Gene Stewart," he replied, curtly.
The Light of Western Stars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: man. Often it used to puzzle and annoy her to find that as
they sat arguing in the brisk, everyday atmosphere of office
or merchandise room the air between them would suddenly
become electric, vibrant. They met each other's eyes with
effort. When their hands touched, accidentally, over papers
or samples they snatched them back. Fanny found herself
laughing uncertainly, at nothing, and was furious. When a
silence fell between them they would pounce upon it,
breathlessly, and smother it with talk.
Do not think that any furtive love-making went on,
sandwiched between shop talk. Their conversation might have
Fanny Herself |
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 Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs of the cypress
Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid-air
Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient cathedrals.
Deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken, save by the herons
Home to their roasts in the cedar-trees returning at sunset,
Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with demoniac laughter.
Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and gleamed on the water,
Gleamed on the columns of cypress and cedar sustaining the
arches,
Down through whose broken vaults it fell as through chinks in a
ruin.
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