| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: Almayer's long strides, to the great joy of the beholders. And
for all his trouble he had nothing. The ring with the green
stone Tuan Babalatchi kept. "Nothing! Nothing!" He spat down
at his feet in sign of disgust, and left that group to seek
further on a fresh audience.
The news spreading to the furthermost parts of the settlement
found out Abdulla in the cool recess of his godown, where he sat
overlooking his Arab clerks and the men loading and unloading the
up-country canoes. Reshid, who was busy on the jetty, was
summoned into his uncle's presence and found him, as usual, very
calm and even cheerful, but very much surprised. The rumour of
Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: when his heart still gazed with yearning at the clouds which floated
in Swedenborg's heaven, he had not yet acquired the necessary powers
to produce a coherent system, compactly cast in a piece, as it were.
Hence certain inconsistencies that have left their stamp even on the
sketch here given of his first attempts. Still, incomplete as his work
may have been, was it not the rough copy of a science of which he
would have investigated the secrets at a later time, have secured the
foundations, have examined, deduced, and connected the logical
sequence?
Six months after the confiscation of the /Treatise on the Will/ I left
school. Our parting was unexpected. My mother, alarmed by a feverish
Louis Lambert |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Adventure by Jack London: turned in for a sleep in a veranda hammock, Sheldon opened Joan's
letter.
DEAR MR. SHELDON,--Please forgive me for stealing the Flibberty-
Gibbet. I simply had to. The Martha means everything to us.
Think of it, only fifty-five pounds for her, two hundred and
seventy-five dollars. If I don't save her, I know I shall be able
to pay all expenses out of her gear, which the natives will not
have carried off. And if I do save her, it is the haul of a life-
time. And if I don't save her, I'll fill the Emily and the
Flibberty-Gibbet with recruits. Recruits are needed right now on
Berande more than anything else.
|
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 Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: independent territory of Bundelcund, ascends to Allahabad,
turns thence eastwardly, meeting the Ganges at Benares,
then departs from the river a little, and, descending south-eastward
by Burdivan and the French town of Chandernagor, has its terminus at Calcutta.
The passengers of the Mongolia went ashore at half-past four p.m.;
at exactly eight the train would start for Calcutta.
Mr. Fogg, after bidding good-bye to his whist partners, left the steamer,
gave his servant several errands to do, urged it upon him to be at the station
promptly at eight, and, with his regular step, which beat to the second,
like a astronomical clock, directed his steps to the passport office.
As for the wonders of Bombay its famous city hall, its splendid library,
Around the World in 80 Days |
