| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: The wretched being rushed into his hut as he uttered these last
words, shutting the door with furious violence, and rapidly
drawing two bolts, one after another, as if to exclude the
intrusion of any one of that hated race, who had thus lashed his
soul to frenzy. Earnscliff left the moor with mingled sensations
of pity and horror, pondering what strange and melancholy cause
could have reduced to so miserable a state of mind, a man whose
language argued him to be of rank and education much superior to
the vulgar. He was also surprised to see how much particular
information a person who had lived in that country so short a
time, and in so recluse a manner, had been able to collect
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: make such a spectacle of herself. She did it, and after this we
crept down to where the wild-beast battle had been, and collected
some skins, and I made her patch together a couple of suits proper
for public occasions. They are uncomfortable, it is true, but
stylish, and that is the main point about clothes. ... I find
she is a good deal of a companion. I see I should be lonesome and
depressed without her, now that I have lost my property. Another
thing, she says it is ordered that we work for our living hereafter.
She will be useful. I will superintend.
Ten Days Later
She accuses me of being the cause of our disaster! She says, with
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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 House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: Have we not heard that cry before?
Somewhere, somewhere,
Beside a sea, in the green evening,
Beneath green clouds, in a copper sky . . .
Was it you? was it I?
They have quenched the fires, they dance in the darkness,
The satyrs have run among them to seize and tear,
Look! he has caught one by the hair,
She screams and falls, he bears her away with him,
And the night grows full of whistling wings.
Far off, one voice, serene and sweet,
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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 Marie by H. Rider Haggard: two days after the attack, and discovering or guessing our
hiding-place--I know not which--rode on hither. They say they came to
warn the Boers to be careful, for they did not trust Dingaan, but were
too late. So they too were out of the slaughter, for, Allan, many, many
have been killed--they say five or six hundred, most of them women and
children. But thank God! many more escaped, since the men came in from
the other camps farther off and from their shooting parties, and drove
away the Zulus, killing them by scores."
"Are your father and Pereira here now?" I asked.
"No, Allan. They learned of the massacre and that the Zulus were all
gone yesterday morning. Also they got the bad news that Retief and
Marie |
