| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: learned amongst his physicians told him that, if for the first
twelve years the boy saw the sun or fire, he should entirely lose
his sight, for this was proved by the condition of his eyes.
Hearing this, the king, they say, caused a little house, full of
dark chambers, to be hewn out of the rock, and therein enclosed
his child together with the men that nursed him, and, until the
twelve years were past, never suffered him to see the least ray
of light. After the fulfilment of the twelve years, the king
brought forth from his little house his son that had never seen
a single object, and ordered his waiting men to show the boy
everything after his kind; men in one place, women in another;
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: "Jeff was on the first raft, and for all we know he is now safe at Fort Henry.
Our steersman was shot, and we were captured."
"Has the Shawnee anythin' ag'inst you boys?"
"Why, yes, I guess so. I played a joke on him--took his shirt and put it on
another fellow."
"Might jes' as well kick an' Injun. What has he ag'in you?"
"I don't know. Perhaps he did not like my talk to him," answered Jim. "I am a
preacher, and have come west to teach the gospel to the Indians."
"They're good Injuns now," said Wetzel, pointing to the prostrate figures.
"How did you find us?" eagerly asked Joe.
"Run acrost yer trail two days back."
The Spirit of the Border |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Many times he had caught himself scrutinizing the face of
the monarch, searching for some proof that after all he
was not Leopold.
"Direct the commanders of forts three and four to con-
centrate their fire on the enemy's guns directly north of Fort
No. 3," Barney directed an aide. "Simultaneously let the
cavalry and Colonel Kazov's infantry make a determined as-
sault on the Austrian trenches."
Then he turned his horse toward the left of his line, where,
a little to the rear, lay the fresh troops that he had been
holding in readiness against this very moment. As he gal-
The Mad King |
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 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: meet Sue.
Then, for one ghastly half-hour of depression caused by these scenes,
there returned upon him that feeling which had been his undoing
more than once--that he was not worth the trouble of being taken care
of either by himself or others; and during this half-hour he met
Tinker Taylor, the bankrupt ecclesiastical ironmonger, at Fourways,
who proposed that they should adjourn to a bar and drink together.
They walked along the street till they stood before one of the great
palpitating centres of Christminster life, the inn wherein he formerly
had responded to the challenge to rehearse the Creed in Latin--
now a popular tavern with a spacious and inviting entrance, which gave
Jude the Obscure |
