| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: grains to rin out; and nae wonder--they've been weel shaken. The
leaves are withering fast on the trees, but she'll never see the
Martinmas wind gar them dance in swirls like the fairy rings."
"Ye waited on her for a quarter," said the paralytic woman, "and
got twa red pieces, or I am far beguiled?"
"Ay, ay," answered Ailsie, with a bitter grin; "and Sir William
Ashton promised me a bonny red gown to the boot o' that--a stake,
and a chain, and a tar-barrel, lass! what think ye o' that for a
propine?--for being up early and doun late for
fourscore nights and mair wi' his dwining daughter. But he may
keep it for his ain leddy, cummers."
The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: seemed dug deep into the thick luxurious carpet, and she retreated
backwards to a distant part of the room, hearing herself repeat "You
mustn't, you mustn't" as if it were somebody else screaming. She
came to a chair and flung herself into it. Thereupon the somebody
else ceased screaming and she lolled, exhausted, sightless, in a
silent room, as if indifferent to everything and without a single
thought in her head.
The next few seconds seemed to last for ever so long; a black abyss
of time separating what was past and gone from the reappearance of
the governess and the reawakening of fear. And that woman was
forcing the words through her set teeth: "You say I mustn't, I
Chance |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: I think I would exchange all my remaining years of this for one sight
again of Paris or Seville. May God forgive me such a thought!"
Across the unstirred fragrance of oleanders the bell for vespers began to
ring. Its tones passed over the Padre as he watched the sea in his
garden. They reached his parishioners in their adobe dwellings near by.
The gentle circles of sound floated outward upon the smooth, immense
silence--over the vines and pear-trees; down the avenues of the olives;
into the planted fields, whence women and children began to return; then
out of the lap of the valley along the yellow uplands, where the men that
rode among the cattle paused, looking down like birds at the map of their
home. Then the sound widened, faint, unbroken, until it met Temptation in
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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 Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: "Why mother'd a been ashamed if she'd a knowed how she wound up.
She was the best rider of her time, everybody says so, but she
cashed in by fallin' off a skate what didn't have no more ginger
'an a kitten. If you can beat that?" She gazed at him with her
lips pressed tightly together, evidently expecting some startling
expression of wonder.
"And your father?" Douglas asked rather lamely, being at a loss
for any adequate comment upon a tragedy which the child before
him was too desolate even to understand.
"Oh, DAD'S finish was all right. He got his'n in a lion's cage
where he worked. There was nothing slow about his end." She
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