| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: each, and I told myself that every rose and every kiss should stand
for a year of love. Well, in eighteen months there was an end. But
do you fancy, Seraphina, that my heart has altered?'
'I am sure I cannot tell,' she said, like an automaton.
'It has not,' the Prince continued. 'There is nothing ridiculous,
even from a husband, in a love that owns itself unhappy and that
asks no more. I built on sand; pardon me, I do not breathe a
reproach - I built, I suppose, upon my own infirmities; but I put my
heart in the building, and it still lies among the ruins.'
'How very poetical!' she said, with a little choking laugh, unknown
relentings, unfamiliar softnesses, moving within her. 'What would
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: conviction had given them a new expression. His spectacles lay in his
prayer-book and marked the place where he had ceased to pray. The tall
and spare old man, his arms crossed on his breast, stood erect in an
attitude which bespoke the full strength of his faculties and the
unshakable assurance of his faith. He gazed at the altar humbly with a
look of renewed hope, and took no notice of his nephew's wife, who
planted herself almost in front of him as if to reproach him for
coming back to God.
Zelie, seeing all eyes turned upon her, made haste to leave the church
and returned to the square less hurriedly than she had left it. She
had reckoned on the doctor's money, and possession was becoming
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde: At the back of the stage a curtain is drawn across the window.
Doors L. and R. Table R. with writing materials. Table C. with
syphons, glasses, and Tantalus frame. Table L. with cigar and
cigarette box. Lamps lit.
LADY WINDERMERE. [Standing by the fireplace.] Why doesn't he
come? This waiting is horrible. He should be here. Why is he not
here, to wake by passionate words some fire within me? I am cold -
cold as a loveless thing. Arthur must have read my letter by this
time. If he cared for me, he would have come after me, would have
taken me back by force. But he doesn't care. He's entrammelled by
this woman - fascinated by her - dominated by her. If a woman
|
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 Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: long in the Land of Oz," replied Dorothy; "but I can't
do any magic at all, an' so I can't figure out e'zactly
how you an' Glinda an' the Wizard do it."
"Don't try," laughed Ozma. "But you have at least one
magical art, Dorothy: you know the trick of winning all
hearts."
"No, I don't," said Dorothy earnestly. "If I really
can do it, Ozma, I am sure I don't know how I do it."
It took them a good two hours to reach the foot of
the round, flat mountain, and then they found the
sides so steep that they were like the wall of a house.
Glinda of Oz |
