| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: "Pooh!" said the nobleman, and off he clattered, with his
servants at his heels; and that was all the good that Simon
Agricola had of this trick. But ill-luck was not done with him
yet, for when the smith saw how matters had turned out, he laid
hold of the doctor and would not let him go until he had paid him
the golden angel he had promised for the use of the forge. The
doctor pulled a sour face, but all the same he had to pay the
angel. Then the smith let him go, and off he marched in a huff.
Outside of the forge was the smith's mother--a poor old creature,
withered and twisted and bent as a winter twig. Babo had kept his
eyes open, and had not travelled with Simon Agricola for nothing.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: Polynesia, and a part of Micronesia, the rule holds good; the great
ones of the isle, and even of the village, are greater of bone and
muscle, and often heavier of flesh, than any commoner. The usual
explanation - that the high-born child is more industriously
shampooed, is probably the true one. In New Caledonia, at least,
where the difference does not exist, has never been remarked, the
practice of shampooing seems to be itself unknown. Doctors would
be well employed in a study of the point.
Vaekehu lives at the other end of the town from the Residency,
beyond the buildings of the mission. Her house is on the European
plan: a table in the midst of the chief room; photographs and
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: made use of those silent hours he might have found reason to
reserve his judgment on her quality. She read and took
notes incessantly, mastering facts with painful
laboriousness, but never flinching from her self-imposed
task. She began the study of Latin, incited by the Roman
characteristics of the town she lived in. "If I am not
well-informed it shall be by no fault of my own," she would
say to herself through the tears that would occasionally
glide down her peachy cheeks when she was fairly baffled by
the portentous obscurity of many of these educational works.
Thus she lived on, a dumb, deep-feeling, great-eyed
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
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 Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: and make many people's lives a little brighter, and then you
will not have lived, as so many of your sex do, in vain. And
now I have given you a lot of old-fashioned advice, and so I
am going to give you something to sweeten it with. You see this
little piece of paper. It is what is called a cheque. When
we are gone give it to your father with this note -- not before,
mind. You will marry one day, my dear little Flossie, and it
is to buy you a wedding present which you are to wear, and your
daughter after you, if you have one, in remembrance of Hunter
Quatermain.
Poor little Flossie cried very much, and gave me a lock of her
Allan Quatermain |
