| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: "'All right, Tom,' I answered. 'I will when I have killed those three
other lions,' for by this time I was bent on shooting them as I never
remember being bent on anything before or since. 'You can go if you
like, or you can get up a tree.'
"He considered the position a little, and then he very wisely got up a
tree. I wish that I had done the same.
"Meanwhile I had found my knife, which had an extractor in it, and
succeeded after some difficulty in pulling out the cartridge which had
so nearly been the cause of my death, and removing the obstruction in
the barrel. It was very little thicker than a postage-stamp; certainly
not thicker than a piece of writing-paper. This done, I loaded the gun,
Long Odds |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Cromwell by William Shakespeare: In love and duty for your kindness shown.
OLD CROMWELL.
Body of me, Tom, make haste, least some body
get between thee and home, Tom. I thank you,
good master Bowser, I thank you for my boy; I
thank you always, I thank you most heartily, sir.
Ho, a cup of Beer there for master Bowser.
BOWSER.
It shall not need, sir. Master Cromwell, will you go?
CROMWELL.
I will attend you, sir.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: About the death, I have long hesitated, I was long before I could
tell my mind; and now I know it, and can but say that I am glad.
If we could have had my father, that would have been a different
thing. But to keep that changeling - suffering changeling - any
longer, could better none and nothing. Now he rests; it is more
significant, it is more like himself. He will begin to return to
us in the course of time, as he was and as we loved him.
My favourite words in literature, my favourite scene - 'O let him
pass,' Kent and Lear - was played for me here in the first moment
of my return. I believe Shakespeare saw it with his own father. I
had no words; but it was shocking to see. He died on his feet, you
|
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 Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: great sweep to the right, dashing up at first in angry waves, then
falling away in oily curves and eddies, until at last it sleeps in
a black deep, apparently almost motionless, at the foot of the
hill. It was here, on the upper edge of the stream, opposite to
the slide, that we brought our floating camp to anchor for some
days. What does one do in such a watering-place?
Let us take a "specimen day." It is early morning, or to be more
precise, about eight of the clock, and the white fog is just
beginning to curl and drift away from the surface of the river.
Sooner than this it would be idle to go out. The preternaturally
early bird in his greedy haste may catch the worm; but the salmon
|
