| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: LOCRINE.
Then frolic, lordings, to fair Concord's walls,
Where we will pass the day in knightly sports,
The night in dancing and in figured masks,
And offer to God Risus all our sports
[Exeunt.]
ACT II. PROLOGUE.
[Enter Ate as before. After a little lightning and
thundering, let there come forth this show:--Perseus
and Andromeda, hand in hand, and Cepheus also,
with swords and targets. Then let there come out of an
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: acquired the habit and the facility which I think I possess in always
discovering new truths in proportion as I give myself to the search.
And, in a single word, if there is any work in the world which cannot
be so well finished by another as by him who has commenced it, it is
that at which I labour.
It is true, indeed, as regards the experiments which may conduce to this
end, that one man is not equal to the task of making them all; but yet he
can advantageously avail himself, in this work, of no hands besides his
own, unless those of artisans, or parties of the same kind, whom he could
pay, and whom the hope of gain (a means of great efficacy) might stimulate
to accuracy in the performance of what was prescribed to them. For as to
Reason Discourse |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Animal Farm by George Orwell: had been added to it. Whymper had bought himself a dogcart. The windmill,
however, had not after all been used for generating electrical power. It
was used for milling corn, and brought in a handsome money profit. The
animals were hard at work building yet another windmill; when that one was
finished, so it was said, the dynamos would be installed. But the luxuries
of which Snowball had once taught the animals to dream, the stalls with
electric light and hot and cold water, and the three-day week, were no
longer talked about. Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the
spirit of Animalism. The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard
and living frugally.
Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the
Animal Farm |
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 Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: when he had found them they only laughed at him, to think that he, who
was so young and simple, should try to travel through the world, when
they, who were so much wiser, had been unable to get on. However, they
all set out on their journey together, and came at last to an ant-
hill. The two elder brothers would have pulled it down, in order to
see how the poor ants in their fright would run about and carry off
their eggs. But the little dwarf said, 'Let the poor things enjoy
themselves, I will not suffer you to trouble them.'
So on they went, and came to a lake where many many ducks were
swimming about. The two brothers wanted to catch two, and roast them.
But the dwarf said, 'Let the poor things enjoy themselves, you shall
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
