| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: for them. If the air steadied at all the seaman at
the helm could be trusted for a warning shout:
"Ship's all aback, sir!" which like a trumpet-
call would make me spring a foot above the deck.
Those were the words which it seemed to me would
have made me spring up from eternal sleep. But
this was not often. I have never met since such
breathless sunrises. And if the second mate hap-
pened to be there (he had generally one day in
three free of fever) I would find him sitting on the
skylight half senseless, as it were, and with an
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: into Normandy. Imagine therefore the hatred conceived for the tenants
of the Chalet by the Norman Vilquin, a man worth three millions! What
criminal leze-million on the part of a cashier, to hold up to the eyes
of such a man the impotence of his wealth! Vilquin, whose desperation
in the matter made him the talk of Havre, had just proposed to give
Dumay a pretty house of his own, and had again been refused. Havre
itself began to grow uneasy at the man's obstinacy, and a good many
persons explained it by the phrase, "Dumay is a Breton." As for the
cashier, he thought Madame and Mademoiselle Mignon would be ill-lodged
elsewhere. His two idols now inhabited a temple worthy of them; the
sumptuous little cottage gave them a home, where these dethroned
Modeste Mignon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: said, lamely.
"I've often been told so. But I don't believe it." He thrust open
the door for her, and bowing with an air which imposed upon her,
although it was merely copied from Fleury of the Comedie Francaise,
so often visited in the Louis le Grand days, he waved her in.
"After you, ma demoiselle." For greater emphasis he deliberately
broke the word into its two component parts.
"I thank you, monsieur," she answered, frostily, as near sneering
as was possible to so charming a person, and went in, nor addressed
him again throughout the meal. Instead, she devoted herself with
an unusual and devastating assiduity to the suspiring Leandre, that
|
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 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: radiance of the six great colored suns; but still they gleamed
steadily and clearly. The Mangaboos were much impressed because
they had never before seen any light that did not come directly
from their suns.
Next the Wizard poured a pool of oil from the can upon the glass floor,
where it covered quite a broad surface. When he lighted the oil a hundred
tongues of flame shot up, and the effect was really imposing.
"Now, Princess," exclaimed the Wizard, "those of your advisors who
wished to throw us into the Garden of Clinging Vines must step within
this circle of light. If they advised you well, and were in the
right, they will not be injured in any way. But if any advised you
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
