| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: little one, he is not much harmed, and by tomorrow night he shall be well.
We shall leave him where the police will find him, as on the other night,
and then to home."
Coming close to Arthur, he said, "My friend Arthur, you have had a sore trial,
but after, when you look back, you will see how it was necessary.
You are now in the bitter waters, my child. By this time tomorrow you will,
please God, have passed them, and have drunk of the sweet waters.
So do not mourn over-much. Till then I shall not ask you to forgive me."
Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other
on the way. We had left behind the child in safety, and were tired.
So we all slept with more or less reality of sleep.
Dracula |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Princess by Alfred Tennyson: She ceased: the Princess answered coldly, 'Good:
Your oath is broken: we dismiss you: go.
For this lost lamb (she pointed to the child)
Our mind is changed: we take it to ourself.'
Thereat the Lady stretched a vulture throat,
And shot from crooked lips a haggard smile.
'The plan was mine. I built the nest' she said
'To hatch the cuckoo. Rise!' and stooped to updrag
Melissa: she, half on her mother propt,
Half-drooping from her, turned her face, and cast
A liquid look on Ida, full of prayer,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: His first impulse was to exclaim, "Why the devil do you borrow
books of Flamel? I can buy you all you want--" but he felt
himself irresistibly forced into an attitude of smiling
compliance. "Flamel always has the newest books going, hasn't he?
You must be careful, by the way, about returning what he lends
you. He's rather crotchety about his library."
"Oh, I'm always very careful," she said, with a touch of
competence that struck him; and she added, as he caught up his
hat: "Don't forget the letters."
Why had she asked for the book? Was her sudden wish to see it the
result of some hint of Flamel's? The thought turned Glennard
|
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 Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: occasions Lena, attired in a pink wrapper and silk stockings and
tiny pink slippers, would sing to him, accompanying herself on a
battered guitar. It gave him a delicious sense of freedom and
experience to be with a woman who, no matter how, had lived in big
cities and knew the ways of town folk, who had never worked in the
fields and had kept her hands white and soft, her throat fair and
tender, who had heard great singers in Denver and Salt Lake, and
who knew the strange language of flattery and idleness and mirth.
Yet, careless as he seemed, the frantic prayers of his mother
were not altogether without their effect upon Eric. For days he
had been fleeing before them as a criminal from his pursuers, and
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
