| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: petition, I would willingly aid you, from my love to the Muses;
but thou hast nettled the Lord Treasurer."
"My lord, " said the poet, "were I permitted to explain--"
"Come to my lodging, Edmund," answered the Earl "not to-morrow,
or next day, but soon.--Ha, Will Shakespeare--wild Will!--thou
hast given my nephew Philip Sidney, love-powder; he cannot sleep
without thy Venus and Adonis under his pillow! We will have thee
hanged for the veriest wizard in Europe. Hark thee, mad wag, I
have not forgotten thy matter of the patent, and of the bears."
The PLAYER bowed, and the Earl nodded and passed on--so that age
would have told the tale; in ours, perhaps, we might say the
Kenilworth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: then why do you come against us, who are peaceful travellers, with your
spears lifted?"
"For this reason. The Boer told us that there is among you a 'child of
George'" (an Englishman), "a terrible man who would kill us unless we
killed or bound him first. Show us this child of George that we may
make him fast, or slay him, and we will not hurt the rest of you."
"I am the child of George," I answered, "and if you think it necessary
to make me fast, do so."
Now the Zulus burst out laughing.
"You! Why, you are but a boy who weighs no more than a fat girl,"
exclaimed their captain, a great, bony fellow who was named Kambula.
Marie |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Damaged Goods by Upton Sinclair: romantic. I came to Paris when I was a girl. My parents had
died, and I had no friends, and I didn't know what to do. I got
a place as a nursemaid. I was seventeen years old then, and I
didn't know anything. I believed what I was told, and I believed
my employer. His wife was ill in a hospital, and he said he
wanted to marry me when she died. Well, I liked him, and I was
sorry for him--and then the first thing I knew I had a baby. And
then the wife came back, and I was turned off. I had been a
fool, of course. If I had been in her place should have done
just what she did."
The girl was speaking in a cold, matter-of-fact voice, as of
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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 Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: A Tale Revealing the Wisdom of Being a Cork on the River of Life
The Art of Truth
Matthew 18:3
The Boy and the Vulture
Three Flat Tires
The History of Professor De Laix
How the Humans Finally Learned to Like Themselves
The Caterpillar and the Bee
The Wise One
On the Heroic Suffering of Mankind
The Quest
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