| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: that Miss Balfour had rather suddenly outgrown her bashfulness. And
there was another thing, the difference of our speech. I had the Low
Country tongue and dwelled upon my words; she had a hill voice, spoke
with something of an English accent, only far more delightful, and was
scarce quite fit to be called a deacon in the craft of talking English
grammar; so that, for a brother and sister, we made a most uneven pair.
But the young Hollander was a heavy dog, without so much spirit in his
belly as to remark her prettiness, for which I scorned him. And as
soon as he had found a cover to our heads, he left us alone, which was
the greater service of the two.
CHAPTER XXIV - FULL STORY OF A COPY OF HEINECCIUS
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: bath had fallen from its supports, and lay, quivering and
vibrating with horrid noises at my feet. The next moment Mr.
Harbison had thrown open the door and leaped into the room.
"Who's there?" he demanded. Against the light I could see him
reaching for his hip pocket, and the rest crowding up around him.
"It's only me," I quavered, "that is, I. The--the dish pan
upset."
"Dish pan!" Bella said from back in the crowd. "Kit, of course!"
Jim forced his way through then and turned on the lights. I have
no doubt I looked very strange, kneeling there on the bare floor,
with a row of pans mounted on bricks behind me, and the furniture
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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 Symposium by Plato: do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and
over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in
all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was
when he wanted to run fast. Now the sexes were three, and such as I have
described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was
originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman
of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth, and they were all round and
moved round and round like their parents. Terrible was their might and
strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an
attack upon the gods; of them is told the tale of Otys and Ephialtes who,
as Homer says, dared to scale heaven, and would have laid hands upon the
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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 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: His pleasure was only disturbed by his row not being well cut. "I
will swing less with my arm and more with my whole body," he
thought, comparing Tit's row, which looked as if it had been cut
with a line, with his own unevenly and irregularly lying grass.
The first row, as Levin noticed, Tit had mowed specially quickly,
probably wishing to put his master to the test, and the row
happened to be a long one. The next rows were easier, but still
Levin had to strain every nerve not to drop behind the peasants.
He thought of nothing, wished for nothing, but not to be left
behind the peasants, and to do his work as well as possible. He
heard nothing but the swish of scythes, and saw before him Tit's
Anna Karenina |
