| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: into a tiger too.
"Maharaj! Great King," he said at last in a husky whisper.
"Yes," said Mowgli, without turning his head, chuckling a
little.
"I am an old man. I did not know that thou wast anything more
than a herdsboy. May I rise up and go away, or will thy servant
tear me to pieces?"
"Go, and peace go with thee. Only, another time do not meddle
with my game. Let him go, Akela."
Buldeo hobbled away to the village as fast as he could,
looking back over his shoulder in case Mowgli should change into
The Jungle Book |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: hand, pressed it, and said with deep feeling: "God is my witness, poor
mistaken child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a
father--conscientiously, do I say? Most lovingly, my Emilie. Yes, God
knows! This winter I have brought before you more than one good man,
whose character, whose habits, and whose temper were known to me, and
all seemed worthy of you. My child, my task is done. From this day
forth you are the arbiter of your fate, and I consider myself both
happy and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the heaviest of
paternal functions. I know not whether you will for any long time,
now, hear a voice which, to you, has never been stern; but remember
that conjugal happiness does not rest so much on brilliant qualities
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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 In the Cage by Henry James: heightened, a panorama fed with facts and figures, flushed with a
torrent of colour and accompanied with wondrous world-music. What
it mainly came to at this period was a picture of how London could
amuse itself; and that, with the running commentary of a witness so
exclusively a witness, turned for the most part to a hardening of
the heart. The nose of this observer was brushed by the bouquet,
yet she could never really pluck even a daisy. What could still
remain fresh in her daily grind was the immense disparity, the
difference and contrast, from class to class, of every instant and
every motion. There were times when all the wires in the country
seemed to start from the little hole-and-corner where she plied for
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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 The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: silence and reserve, makes it sterile of blossoms and impotent of
fruits. For what is it, after all, but a subtle, spiritual worship
of self? And what was Falconer's resolve not to tell this girl that
he loved her until he had won fame and position, but a secret,
unconscious setting of himself above her? For surely, if love is
supreme, it does not need to wait for anything else to lend it worth
and dignity. The very sweetness and power of it lie in the
confession of one life as dependent upon another for its fulfilment.
It is made strong in its very weakness. It is the only thing, after
all, that can break the prison bars and set the heart free from
itself. The pride that hinders it, enslaves it. Love's first duty
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