| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: big pipe, and at last I sold my wheelbarrow. But I am going to buy
them all back again now.'
"'Hans,' said the Miller, 'I will give you my wheelbarrow. It is
not in very good repair; indeed, one side is gone, and there is
something wrong with the wheel-spokes; but in spite of that I will
give it to you. I know it is very generous of me, and a great many
people would think me extremely foolish for parting with it, but I
am not like the rest of the world. I think that generosity is the
essence of friendship, and, besides, I have got a new wheelbarrow
for myself. Yes, you may set your mind at ease, I will give you my
wheelbarrow.'
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: remembered we had finished the sphere, and fancied I must still be in it
and travelling through space.
"Cavor," I said, "cannot we have some light?"
There came no answer.
"Cavor!" I insisted.
I was answered by a groan. "My head!" I heard him say; "my head!"
I attempted to press my hands to my brow, which ached, and discovered they
were tied together. This startled me very much. I brought them up to my
mouth and felt the cold smoothness of metal. They were chained together. I
tried to separate my legs and made out they were similarly fastened, and
also that I was fastened to the ground by a much thicker chain about the
The First Men In The Moon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: the Wesleyans from the very first; but I thought I could pick a
hole or two in their notions, and I got disputing wi' one o' the
class leaders down at Treddles'on, and harassed him so, first o'
this side and then o' that, till at last he said, 'Young man, it's
the devil making use o' your pride and conceit as a weapon to war
against the simplicity o' the truth.' I couldn't help laughing
then, but as I was going home, I thought the man wasn't far wrong.
I began to see as all this weighing and sifting what this text
means and that text means, and whether folks are saved all by
God's grace, or whether there goes an ounce o' their own will
to't, was no part o' real religion at all. You may talk o' these
Adam Bede |
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 Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: them was friendly and even somewhat obsequious, yet always with a
certain truculent glint in his eye that made them pause in
everything but their generosity - which was encouraged. I
sometimes wondered whether those two careless, merry hard-working
creatures understood the secret moral beauty of the situation.
My real company was the dummy in the studio and I can't say it was
exactly satisfying. After taking possession of the studio I had
raised it tenderly, dusted its mangled limbs and insensible, hard-
wood bosom, and then had propped it up in a corner where it seemed
to take on, of itself, a shy attitude. I knew its history. It was
not an ordinary dummy. One day, talking with Dona Rita about her
The Arrow of Gold |
