| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bab:A Sub-Deb, Mary Roberts Rinehart by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Cavalry Regiments that have no horses, aren't there? But we are but
at the beginning of our Milatary existence, and no one can tell
what the next day may bring forth."
"Not with you, anyhow," he said in an angry tone, and was very cold
to me the rest of the dinner hour.
They talked about the war, but what a disapointment was mine! I had
returned from my Institution of Learning full of ferver, and it was
a bitter moment when I heard my father observe that he felt he
could be of more use to his Native Land by making shells than by
marching and carrying a gun, as he had once had milk-leg and was
never the same since.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: yet whom I needs must blame.
Machiavel. To whom do you refer?
Regent. I must confess that Egmont caused me to-day deep and heart-felt
annoyance.
Machiavel. How so?
Regent. By his accustomed demeanour, his usual indifference and levity. I
received the fatal tidings as I was leaving church, attended by him and
several others. I did not restrain my anguish, I broke forth into
lamentations, loud and deep, and turning to him, exclaimed, "See what is
going on in your province! Do you suffer it, Count, you, in whom the king
confided so implicitly?"
Egmont |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: fidelity of suggestive detail, that it wrung from Mrs Verloc an
anguished and faint murmur, reproducing the supreme illusion of her
life, an appalled murmur that died out on her blanched lips.
"Might have been father and son."
Mr Verloc stopped, and raised a care-worn face. "Eh? What did you
say?" he asked. Receiving no reply, he resumed his sinister
tramping. Then with a menacing flourish of a thick, fleshy fist,
he burst out:
"Yes. The Embassy people. A pretty lot, ain't they! Before a
week's out I'll make some of them wish themselves twenty feet
underground. Eh? What?"
The Secret Agent |
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 Odyssey by Homer: a bard with such a divine voice as this man has. There is
nothing better or more delightful than when a whole people make
merry together, with the guests sitting orderly to listen, while
the table is loaded with bread and meats, and the cup-bearer
draws wine and fills his cup for every man. This is indeed as
fair a sight as a man can see. Now, however, since you are
inclined to ask the story of my sorrows, and rekindle my own sad
memories in respect of them, I do not know how to begin, nor yet
how to continue and conclude my tale, for the hand of heaven has
been laid heavily upon me.
"Firstly, then, I will tell you my name that you too may know
The Odyssey |
