| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: silver feather, dropped from the wing of Truth. And it shall come to
pass," said the old man, raising himself prophetically and pointing with
his finger to the sky, "it shall come to pass, that when enough of those
silver feathers shall have been gathered by the hands of men, and shall
have been woven into a cord, and the cord into a net, that in that net
Truth may be captured. Nothing but Truth can hold Truth."
The hunter arose. "I will go," he said.
But wisdom detained him.
"Mark you well--who leaves these valleys never returns to them. Though he
should weep tears of blood seven days and nights upon the confines, he can
never put his foot across them. Left--they are left forever. Upon the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: we of the common sort were not hail-fellow-well-met with them.--Madame
de Merret was a kind woman and very pleasant, who had no doubt
sometimes to put up with her husband's tantrums. But though he was
rather haughty, we were fond of him. After all, it was his place to
behave so. When a man is a born nobleman, you see----'
" 'Still, there must have been some catastrophe for Monsieur and
Madame de Merret to part so violently?'
" 'I did not say there was any catastrophe, sir. I know nothing about
it.'
" 'Indeed. Well, now, I am sure you know everything.'
" 'Well, sir, I will tell you the whole story.--When I saw Monsieur
La Grande Breteche |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris: water, head and shoulders above the little foothills, and looking
out to the sea and to the west.
The Reservation itself was delightful. There were rows of the
officers' houses, all alike, drawn up in lines like an assembly of
the staff; there were huge barracks, most like college
dormitories; and on their porches enlisted men in shirt sleeves
and overalls were cleaning saddles, and polishing the brass of
head-stalls and bridles, whistling the while or smoking corn-cob
pipes. Here on the parade-ground a soldier, his coat and vest
removed, was batting grounders and flies to a half-dozen of his
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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 Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: for the scene, as the scene seemed made for the hour.
Part of its tone was quite special; what was heard there
could be heard nowhere else. Gusts in innumerable series
followed each other from the northwest, and when each one
of them raced past the sound of its progress resolved
into three. Treble, tenor, and bass notes were to be
found therein. The general ricochet of the whole over
pits and prominences had the gravest pitch of the chime.
Next there could be heard the baritone buzz of a holly tree.
Below these in force, above them in pitch, a dwindled voice
strove hard at a husky tune, which was the peculiar local
Return of the Native |
