| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: They kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason
that the prairie-dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnakes--
because they did not know how to get rid of him.
V
WE KNEW THAT THINGS were hard for our Bohemian neighbours,
but the two girls were lighthearted and never complained.
They were always ready to forget their troubles at home,
and to run away with me over the prairie, scaring rabbits
or starting up flocks of quail.
I remember Antonia's excitement when she came into our kitchen one afternoon
and announced: `My papa find friends up north, with Russian mans.
My Antonia |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: this world, and amongst you are those who love the next. Then He
turned you away from them to try you; but He has pardoned you, for God
is Lord of grace unto believers,- when ye went up and looked not round
upon any one, although the Apostle was calling you from your rear.
Therefore did God reward you with trouble on trouble that ye should
not grieve after what ye had missed, nor for what befel you, for God
is well aware of what ye do. Then He sent down upon you after
trouble safety,- drowsiness creeping over one company of you, and
one company of you getting anxious about themselves, suspecting
about God other than the truth, with the suspicion of the ignorant,
and saying, 'Have we any chance in the affair?' Say, 'Verily, the
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: pasturage, the yield of milk was very much larger. The results of this
triumph were great indeed. Every one followed the example set by my
system of irrigation; cattle were multiplied; the area of meadow land
and every kind of out-turn increased. I had nothing to fear after
that. I could continue my efforts to improve this, as yet, untilled
corner of the earth; and to civilize those who dwelt in it, whose
minds had hitherto lain dormant.
"Well, sir, folk like us, who live out of the world, are very
talkative. If you ask us a question, there is no knowing where the
answer will come to an end; but to cut it short--there were about
seven hundred souls in the valley when I came to it, and now the
|
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 Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: service. She could not spare James, and thought William had better
clean the harness, by way of penance.
The morning proved to be warm and sunny. I donned a muslin dress
of home manufacture and my own bonnet, and started for church. I
had walked but a few paces when the consciousness of being *free*
and *alone* struck me. I halted, looked about me, and concluded
that I would not go to church, but walk into the fields. I had no
knowledge of the whereabouts of the fields; but I walked straight
forward, and after a while came upon some barren fields, cropping
with coarse rocks, along which ran a narrow road. I turned into it,
and soon saw beyond the rough coast the blue ring of the ocean--
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