| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: springing to their feet and looking into each other's face with dismay
and then upon Ak with wonder. For it was a grave matter, this parting
with the Mantle of Immortality.
The Queen of the Water Sprites spoke in her low, clear voice, and the
words sounded like raindrops splashing upon a window-pane.
"In all the world there is but one Mantle of Immortality," she said.
The King of the Sound Fays added:
"It has existed since the Beginning, and no mortal has ever dared to
claim it."
And the Master Mariner of the World arose and stretched his limbs, saying:
"Only by the vote of every immortal can it be bestowed upon a mortal."
 The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
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 Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: and I shouldn't have done it now if words had not sometimes
been dropped about you."
"What DO you mean?" he impatiently asked.
"They say--they say you used to go to Alderworth in
the evenings, and it puts into my mind what I have heard about--"
Wildeve turned angrily and stood up in front of her.
"Now," he said, flourishing his hand in the air,
"just out with it, madam! I demand to know what remarks
you have heard."
"Well, I heard that you used to be very fond of
Eustacia--nothing more than that, though dropped
 Return of the Native |