| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: and two young men were making felt boots out of wool; Kiryak, who
had been dismissed from his place for drunkenness, and now lived
at home, was sitting beside the tailor mending a bridle. And it
was crowded, stifling, and noisome in the hut. The converted Jew
examined Nikolay and said that it was necessary to try cupping.
He put on the cups, and the old tailor, Kiryak, and the little
girls stood round and looked on, and it seemed to them that they
saw the disease being drawn out of Nikolay; and Nikolay, too,
watched how the cups suckling at his breast gradually filled with
dark blood, and felt as though there really were something coming
out of him, and smiled with pleasure.
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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 Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: stood facing the lady in waiting, his back against the
door.
"Mon Dieu, Sir Jules," she cried, "hast thou gone
mad?"
"No, My Lady," he answered, "but I had not thought
to do the work which now lies before me. Why didst
thou not keep a still tongue in thy head and let his
patron saint look after the welfare of this princeling?
Your rashness has brought you to a pretty pass, for it
must be either you or I, My Lady, and it cannot be I.
Say thy prayers and compose thyself for death."
The Outlaw of Torn |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: They ran to the trees, around the trunks of which were clinging many
tendrils of greenish-brown vine which possessed remarkable strength.
With their knives they cut a long section of this vine, the ends of
which were then tied into loops large enough to permit the sailors to
sit in them comfortably. The connecting piece Rob padded with seaweed
gathered from the shore, to prevent its cutting into his shoulders.
"Now, then," he said, when all was ready, "take your places."
The sailors squatted in the loops, and Rob swung the vine over his
shoulders and turned the indicator of the traveling machine to "up."
As they slowly mounted into the sky the little sailor gave a squeal of
terror and clung to the boy's arm; but the other, although seemingly
The Master Key |
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 King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top,
And chatt'ring pies in dismal discord sung.
Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain,
And yet brought forth less than a mother's hope,
An indigested and deformed lump,
Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree.
Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born,
To signify thou cam'st to bite the world;
And, if the rest be true which I have heard,
Thou cam'st--
GLOSTER.
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