| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: But the next care was the poor maid: she lay all along upon the
deck, hard by her mistress, and just like one that had fallen down
in a fit of apoplexy, and struggled for life. Her limbs were
distorted; one of her hands was clasped round the frame of the
chair, and she gripped it so hard that we could not easily make her
let it go; her other arm lay over her head, and her feet lay both
together, set fast against the frame of the cabin table: in short,
she lay just like one in the agonies of death, and yet she was
alive too. The poor creature was not only starved with hunger, and
terrified with the thoughts of death, but, as the men told us
afterwards, was broken-hearted for her mistress, whom she saw dying
Robinson Crusoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: poor Peter was weary in spirit and faint, his eyelids were heavy
and he could not struggle against sleep. He fell asleep. Then you
heard how Judas the same night kissed Jesus and betrayed Him to
His tormentors. They took Him bound to the high priest and beat
Him, while Peter, exhausted, worn out with misery and alarm,
hardly awake, you know, feeling that something awful was just
going to happen on earth, followed behind. . . . He loved Jesus
passionately, intensely, and now he saw from far off how He was
beaten. . ."
Lukerya left the spoons and fixed an immovable stare upon the
student.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: his breast. She must not see his face in that moment. And he held
her while he looked out across the valley. In his dim and blinded
sight, in the blur of golden light and moving mist, he saw
Oldring. She was the rustler's nameless daughter. Oldring had
loved her. He had so guarded her, so kept her from women and men
and knowledge of life that her mind was as a child's. That was
part of the secret--part of the mystery. That was the wonderful
truth. Not only was she not bad, but good, pure, innocent above
all innocence in the world--the innocence of lonely girlhood.
He saw Oldring's magnificent eyes, inquisitive, searching,
softening. He saw them flare in amaze, in gladness, with love,
Riders of the Purple Sage |
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 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: retire to his room, leaving you and your Wife alone.
I saw your Isosceles servants, three in number, in the kitchen
at supper, and the little Page in the scullery. Then I came here,
and how do you think I came?
I. Through the roof, I suppose.
STRANGER. Not so. Your roof, as you know very well,
has been recently repaired, and has no aperture by which even a Woman
could penetrate. I tell you I come from Space. Are you not convinced
by what I have told you of your children and household?
I. Your Lordship must be aware that such facts touching
the belongings of his humble servant might be easily ascertained
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |
