| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: men to the sermon Ferguson was preaching to the army in the Castle
Fields. Having put up his horse, Mr. Wilding, all dusty as he was,
repaired straight to the Castle to report himself to Monmouth.
He was informed that His Majesty was in council. Nevertheless, urging
that his news was of importance, he begged to be instantly announced.
After a pause, he was ushered into a lofty, roomy chamber where, in
the fading daylight, King Monmouth sat in council with Grey and Wade,
Matthews, Speke, Ferguson, and others. At the foot of the table stood
a sturdy country-fellow, unknown to Wilding. It was Godfrey, the spy,
who was to act as their guide across Sedgemoor that night; for the
matter that was engaging them just then was the completion of their
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: Count, a creditor should really be in a position uncommonly difficult
to reach; it is a question of being creditor and debtor both, for then
you are legally entitled to work the confusion of rights, in law
language--"
"To the confusion of the debtor?" asked Malaga, lending an attentive
ear to this discourse.
"No, the confusion of rights of debtor and creditor, and pay yourself
through your own hands. So Claparon's innocence in merely issuing
writs of attachment eased the Count's mind. As he came back from the
Varietes with Antonia, he was so much the more taken with the idea of
selling the reading-room to pay off the last two thousand francs of
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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 Dreams & Dust by Don Marquis: tide-walled city waits
The drumming thunders that announce brute
battle at her gates.
Southward a hundred windy leagues, through
storms that blind and bar,
Our cheated cruisers search the waves, our cap-
tains seek the war;
But here the port of peril is; the foeman's dread-
noughts ride
Sullen and black against the moon, upon a sullen
tide.
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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 Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: singing and laughing and whistling all the day long.
"It's because I live in the Laughing Valley, where everything else
laughs!" said Claus.
But that was not the reason.
5. How Bessie Blithesome Came to the Laughing Valley
One day, as Claus sat before his door to enjoy the sunshine while
he busily carved the head and horns of a toy deer, he looked up
and discovered a glittering cavalcade of horsemen approaching through
the Valley.
When they drew nearer he saw that the band consisted of a score of
men-at-arms, clad in bright armor and bearing in their hands spears
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
