| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: His luck on this occasion is even worse than he supposes; for
Hunding, by whose hearth he has taken refuge, is clansman to the
slain brothers and is bound to avenge them. He tells the Volsung
that in the morning, weapons or no weapons, he must fight for his
life. Then he orders the woman to bed, and follows her himself,
taking his spear with him.
The unlucky stranger, left brooding by the hearth, has nothing to
console himself with but an old promise of his father's that he
shall find a weapon to his hand when he most needs one. The last
flicker of the dying fire strikes on the golden hilt of the sword
that sticks in the tree; but he does not see it; and the embers
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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 New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: were driving them quite automatically to inevitable insurrection.
They would arise and the capitalist system would flee and vanish
like the mists before the morning, like the dews before the sunrise,
giving place in the most simple and obvious manner to an era of
Right and Justice and Virtue and Well Being, and in short a
Perfectly Splendid Time.
I had already discussed this sort of socialism under the guidance of
Britten, before I went up to Cambridge. It was all mixed up with
ideas about freedom and natural virtue and a great scorn for kings,
titles, wealth and officials, and it was symbolised by the red ties
we wore. Our simple verdict on existing arrangements was that they
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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 King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: looked at him, and when he saw that he was pale and weary, he gave
him the water. "Only pray don't drink it all," said Gluck. But
the old man drank a great deal and gave him back the bottle two
thirds empty. Then he bade him good speed, and Gluck went on again
merrily. And the path became easier to his feet, and two or three
blades of grass appeared upon it, and some grasshoppers began
singing on the bank beside it, and Gluck thought he had never heard
such merry singing.
Then he went on for another hour, and the thirst increased
on him so that he thought he should be forced to drink. But as
he raised the flask he saw a little child lying panting by the
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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 A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: plaid I mean, Ranald, and in it will I muffle the M'Callum More,
and make of him, for the time, a Child of the Mist;--Nay, I must
bring it over your head, my lord, so as to secure us against your
mistimed clamour.--So, now he is sufficiently muffled;--hold down
your hands, or, by Heaven, I will stab you to the heart with your
own dagger!--nay, you shall be bound with nothing less than silk,
as your quality deserves.--So, now he is secure till some one
comes to relieve him. If he ordered us a late dinner, Ranald, he
is like to be the sufferer;--at what hour, my good Ranald, did
the jailor usually appear?"
"Never till the sun was beneath the western wave," said MacEagh.
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