| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: that was different, though what it was I do not recall. The only
words that remained clear to me must, I thought, have come from
the spirit of Chaka, or rather from Zikali or one of his
myrmidons assuming that character. They were uttered in a deep
full voice, spiced with mockery, and received by the wizard with
"Sibonga," or titles of praise, which I who am versed in Zulu
history and idiom knew had only been given to the great king, and
indeed since his death had become unlawful, not to be used. The
words were--
"What, Thing-that-should-never-have-been-born, do you think
yourself a Thing-that-should-never-die, that you still sit
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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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: friend had discernibly now girded her loins to meet me once more.
This I felt as soon as I had put to her the question of her sense
of the child's sincerity as against my own. "She persists in denying
to you that she saw, or has ever seen, anything?"
My visitor's trouble, truly, was great. "Ah, miss, it isn't a matter on which
I can push her! Yet it isn't either, I must say, as if I much needed to.
It has made her, every inch of her, quite old."
"Oh, I see her perfectly from here. She resents, for all
the world like some high little personage, the imputation
on her truthfulness and, as it were, her respectability.
`Miss Jessel indeed--SHE!' Ah, she's `respectable,' the chit!
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: Whereat the spirit which first spake to me
Began again: "Thou wishest I should bring me
To do for thee what thou'lt not do for me;
But since God willeth that in thee shine forth
Such grace of his, I'll not be chary with thee;
Know, then, that I Guido del Duca am.
My blood was so with envy set on fire,
That if I had beheld a man make merry,
Thou wouldst have seen me sprinkled o'er with pallor.
From my own sowing such the straw I reap!
O human race! why dost thou set thy heart
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
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 Adventure by Jack London: "I know what you are thinking," she laughed gaily. "That if I were
a man you'd wring my neck for me. And I deserve it, too. I'm so
sorry. I ought not to keep on hurting your feelings."
"I'm afraid I rather invite it," he said, relieved by the signs of
the tempest subsiding.
"I have it," she announced. "Lend me a gang of your boys for to-
day. I'll build a grass house for myself over in the far corner of
the compound--on piles, of course. I can move in to-night. I'll
be comfortable and safe. The Tahitians can keep an anchor watch
just as aboard ship. And then I'll study cocoanut planting. In
return, I'll run the kitchen end of your household and give you
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