| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: hills were prospectively his property, and so also were the brutish
peasants. It was a form of chastisement which he had never before
experienced, and knew not how to resist. The affront of an entire
community was an offence against which he felt himself to be
helpless.
As they approached the town, the demonstrations of insolence were
redoubled. About two hundred boys, between the ages of ten and
fourteen, awaited them on the hill below the church, forming
themselves into files on either side of the road. These imps had
been instructed to stick out their tongues in derision, and howl,
as the carriage passed between them. At the entrance of the long
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: that Snowdrop's breath was stopped, and she fell down as if she were
dead. 'There's an end to all thy beauty,' said the spiteful queen,
and went away home.
In the evening the seven dwarfs came home; and I need not say how
grieved they were to see their faithful Snowdrop stretched out upon
the ground, as if she was quite dead. However, they lifted her up, and
when they found what ailed her, they cut the lace; and in a little
time she began to breathe, and very soon came to life again. Then they
said, 'The old woman was the queen herself; take care another time,
and let no one in when we are away.'
When the queen got home, she went straight to her glass, and spoke to
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: understood by the entire Rescue Party that Mrs. Milton was
bearing up bravely against almost overwhelming grief. The three
gentlemen outdid one another in sympathetic expedients; they
watched her gravely almost tenderly. The substantial Widgery
tugged at his moustache, and looked his unspeakable feelings at
her with those dog-like, brown eyes of his; the slender Dangle
tugged at HIS moustache, and did what he could with unsympathetic
grey ones. Phipps, unhappily, had no moustache to run any risks
with, so he folded his arms and talked in a brave, indifferent,
bearing-up tone about the London, Brighton, and South Coast
Railway, just to cheer the poor woman up a little. And even Mrs.
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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 Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: To love's alarms it will not ope the gate: 424
Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery;
For where a heart is hard they make no battery.'
'What! canst thou talk?' quoth she, 'hast thou a tongue?
O! would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing; 428
Thy mermaid's voice hath done me double wrong;
I had my load before, now press'd with bearing:
Melodious discord, heavenly tune, harsh-sounding,
Ear's deep-sweet music, and heart's deep-sore wounding.
'Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love 433
That inward beauty and invisible;
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