| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde: uncle, but he told me that he was not, but that I had been left a
child in his charge by some one he had never since seen.
ASCANIO
And you don't know who your father is?
GUIDO
No.
ASCANIO
No recollection of him even?
GUIDO
None, Ascanio, none.
ASCANIO
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: day, place himself in the deep, pine woods, and there let him, in
silence, thoughtfully analyze the sounds that shall pass through
the chambers of his soul, and if he is not thus impressed, it
will only be because "there is no flesh in his obdurate heart."
The remark is not unfrequently made, that slaves are the most
contended and happy laborers in the world. They dance and sing,
and make all manner of joyful noises--so they do; but it is a
great mistake to suppose them happy because they sing. The songs
of the slave represent the sorrows, rather than the joys, of his
heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is
relieved by its tears. Such is the constitution of the human
My Bondage and My Freedom |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: thought shame, I say; for the mountebank was dressed with a big
paper collar, the book he made believe to read from was an odd
volume of a novel, and the words of his service not fit to be set
down. My conscience smote me when we joined hands; and when she
got her certificate I was tempted to throw up the bargain and
confess. Here is the document. It was Case that wrote it,
signatures and all, in a leaf out of the ledger:-
This is to certify that Uma, daughter of Fa'avao of Falesa, Island
of - , is illegally married to Mr. John Wiltshire for one week, and
Mr. John Wiltshire is at liberty to send her to hell when he
pleases.
|
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 Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: traction.
Before her in the pilot's seat sat an English officer and gen-
tleman whom, she knew, loved her, and yet she dared to feel
regret in his company at leaving the stamping ground of a
wild beast!
Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick, on his part, was in the seventh
heaven of elation. He was in possession again of his beloved
ship, he was flying swiftly in the direction of his comrades and
his duty, and with him was the woman he loved. The fly in
the ointment, however, was the accusation Tarzan had made
against this woman. He had said that she was a German, and
Tarzan the Untamed |
