| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: Her mamma is very anxious to hear again."
"Yes," said old man Ballinger, "thar's a letter for Mrs.
Helterskelter, or some sich name. Tommy Ryan brung it over when he
come. Her little gal workin' over thar, you say?"
"In the hotel," shouted Fritz, as he gathered up the lines; "eleven
years old and not bigger as a frankfurter. The close-fist of a Peter
Hildesmuller!--some day I shall with a big club pound that man's
dummkopf--all in and out the town. Perhaps in this letter Lena will
say that she is yet feeling better. So, her mamma will be glad. /Auf
wiedersehen/, Herr Ballinger--your feets will take cold out in the
night air."
Heart of the West |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lin McLean by Owen Wister: "Shucks!"
"Lin, Lin, is it all over? You know yus loved me on Bear Creek. Say you
did. Only say it was once that way." And as he sat, she came and put her
arms round his neck. For a moment he did not move, letting himself be
held; and then she kissed him. The plates crashed as he beat and struck
her down upon the table. He was on his feet, cursing himself. As he went
out of the door, she lay where she had fallen beneath his fist, looking
after him and smiling.
McLean walked down Box Elder Creek through the trees toward the stable,
where Lusk had gone to put the horse in the wagon. Once he leaned his
hand against a big cotton-wood, and stood still with half-closed eyes.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: had left Charley's infamous den directly he had realized
the possibilities open to him, and with his nose in the air.
Afterwards the memory of these adulations was a great
sadness.
This was the true power of money,--and no trouble
with it, nor any thinking required either. He thought
with difficulty and felt vividly; to his blunt brain the
problems offered by any ordered scheme of life seemed
in their cruel toughness to have been put in his way
by the obvious malevolence of men. As a shipowner
everyone had conspired to make him a nobody. How
End of the Tether |
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 Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: had trouble in escaping the rough sides of the well.
Several times it exclaimed "Wow!" as it bumped its
back, or a wing hit against some jagged projection; but
the tail kept whirling with remarkable swiftness and
the daylight grew brighter and brighter. It was,
indeed, a long journey from the bottom to the top, yet
almost before Trot realized they had come so far, they
popped out of the hole into the clear air and sunshine
and a moment later the Ork alighted gently upon the
ground.
The release was so sudden that even with the
The Scarecrow of Oz |
