| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: Babalatchi, "Lakamba my master was getting thin in his anxiety
for the trader he had taken under his protection; and so was
Abdulla, for what would wicked men not say if perchance - "
"Be silent, fool!" growled Lakamba, angrily.
Babalatchi subsided into silence with a satisfied smile, while
Dain, who had been watching him as if fascinated, turned with a
sigh of relief towards the ruler of Sambir. Lakamba did not
move, and, without raising his head, looked at Dain from under
his eyebrows, breathing audibly, with pouted lips, in an air of
general discontent.
"Speak! O Dain!" he said at last. "We have heard many rumours.
Almayer's Folly |
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 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: The young gentlemen teachers "showed off" with
small scoldings and other little displays of authority
and fine attention to discipline -- and most of the
teachers, of both sexes, found business up at the library,
by the pulpit; and it was business that frequently had
to be done over again two or three times (with much
seeming vexation). The little girls "showed off" in
various ways, and the little boys "showed off" with such
diligence that the air was thick with paper wads and
the murmur of scufflings. And above it all the great
man sat and beamed a majestic judicial smile upon all
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
