| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: conversations. At one end of the table, the old chamberlain was
heard assuring an old baroness that he loved her passionately, at
which she laughed; at the other could be heard the story of the
misfortunes of some Mary Viktorovna or other. At the center of the
table, Prince Vasili attracted everybody's attention. With a facetious
smile on his face, he was telling the ladies about last Wednesday's
meeting of the Imperial Council, at which Sergey Kuzmich
Vyazmitinov, the new military governor general of Petersburg, had
received and read the then famous rescript of the Emperor Alexander
from the army to Sergey Kuzmich, in which the Emperor said that he was
receiving from all sides declarations of the people's loyalty, that
War and Peace |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: but I have no time to tell you now. You will read it, I hope, for
yourselves when you grow up, in the writings of far wiser men than
I. Or perhaps you may feel for yourselves in foreign lands the
actual shock of a great earthquake, or see its work fresh done
around you. And if ever that happens, and you be preserved during
the danger, you will learn for yourself, I trust, more about
earthquakes than I can teach you, if you will only bear in mind
the simple general rules for understanding the "how" of them which
I have given you here.
But you do not seem satisfied yet? What is it that you want to
know?
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: asleep; and when he awoke in the morning he found that the princesses
had all been dancing, for the soles of their shoes were full of holes.
The same thing happened the second and third night: so the king
ordered his head to be cut off. After him came several others; but
they had all the same luck, and all lost their lives in the same
manner.
Now it chanced that an old soldier, who had been wounded in battle and
could fight no longer, passed through the country where this king
reigned: and as he was travelling through a wood, he met an old woman,
who asked him where he was going. 'I hardly know where I am going, or
what I had better do,' said the soldier; 'but I think I should like
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
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 Finished by H. Rider Haggard: It seemed to me that the only thing was to make start for Dundee
on the Natal border, and for the rest to trust to fortune. If we
got into trouble over the death of Rodd, unpleasant as this would
be, the matter must be faced out, that was all. For even if any
witness appeared against us, the man had been killed in
self-defence whilst trying to bring about our deaths at the hands
of Basutos. I could see now that I was foolish not to have taken
this line from the first, but as I think I have already
explained, what weighed with me was the terror of involving these
young people in a scandal which might shadow all their future
lives. Also some fate inch by inch had dragged me into Zululand.
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