| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: acacia, that recalls that sultry summer afternoon; but the rose is in the
box still.
It is many years ago now; I was a girl of fifteen, and I went to visit in a
small up-country town. It was young in those days, and two days' journey
from the nearest village; the population consisted mainly of men. A few
were married, and had their wives and children, but most were single.
There was only one young girl there when I came. She was about seventeen,
fair, and rather fully-fleshed; she had large dreamy blue eyes, and wavy
light hair; full, rather heavy lips, until she smiled; then her face broke
into dimples, and all her white teeth shone. The hotel-keeper may have had
a daughter, and the farmer in the outskirts had two, but we never saw them.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: leave the cultivated lands behind; and when he has got upon the tracks
to follow up the clue. If the tracks are much involved, and he follows
them only to find himself back again ere along at the same place,[3]
he must make a series of circuits and sweep round the medley of
tracks, till he finds out where they really lead.[4]
[1] Lit. "I say it is no use setting out with dogs to this chase."
[2] {kaei}. Cf. Arrian, xiv. 5.
[3] Reading {ekonta} sc. {ton kunegeten . . .} or if {ekonta, kuklous}
[sc. {ta ikhne}], transl. "if the tracks are involved, doubling on
themselves and coming back eventually to the same place."
[4] Or, "where the end of the string is."
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London: mid-afternoon, the slopes began rising higher and
higher and the trees were becoming smaller. Then we
came out on the grassy flanks of the mountains. Here
was where we could make time, and here the Tree People
gave up and returned to their forest.
The mountains were bleak and inhospitable, and three
times that afternoon we tried to regain the woods. But
the Tree People were lying in wait, and they drove us
back. Lop-Ear and I slept that night in a dwarf tree,
no larger than a bush. Here was no security, and we
would have been easy prey for any hunting animal that
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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 Heroes by Charles Kingsley: the battle, and know well how to face an invader?'
And the heroes sat silent awhile before the face of that
ancient king. But Hera the awful goddess put courage into
Jason's heart, and he rose and shouted loudly in answer, 'We
are no pirates nor lawless men. We come not to plunder and
to ravage, or carry away slaves from your land; but my uncle,
the son of Poseidon, Pelias the Minuan king, he it is who has
set me on a quest to bring home the golden fleece. And these
too, my bold comrades, they are no nameless men; for some are
the sons of Immortals, and some of heroes far renowned. And
we too never tire in battle, and know well how to give blows
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