| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: sleeping. Why, even babies know how to do that, and they are not
very clever.'
'I have not slept for three hundred years,' he said sadly, and
Virginia's beautiful blue eyes opened in wonder; 'for three hundred
years I have not slept, and I am so tired.'
Virginia grew quite grave, and her little lips trembled like rose-
leaves. She came towards him, and kneeling down at his side,
looked up into his old withered face.
'Poor, poor Ghost,' she murmured; 'have you no place where you can
sleep?'
'Far away beyond the pine-woods,' he answered, in a low dreamy
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: the eye could desire to see. In this cottage lived a widow and
her only son, and they also made the travellers welcome, and set
before them a good supper and showed them to a clean bed.
This time the travelling comrade did neither good nor ill to
those of the house, but in the morning he told the widow whither
they were going, and asked if she and her son knew the way to the
garden where grew the fruit of happiness.
"Yes," said she, "that we do, for the garden is not a day's
journey from here, and my son himself shall go with you to show
you the way."
"That is good," said the servant's comrade, "and if he will do so
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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 Critias by Plato: Diaprepes. All these and their descendants for many generations were the
inhabitants and rulers of divers islands in the open sea; and also, as has
been already said, they held sway in our direction over the country within
the pillars as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia. Now Atlas had a numerous and
honourable family, and they retained the kingdom, the eldest son handing it
on to his eldest for many generations; and they had such an amount of
wealth as was never before possessed by kings and potentates, and is not
likely ever to be again, and they were furnished with everything which they
needed, both in the city and country. For because of the greatness of
their empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries, and
the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the uses
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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 Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: of the home he had been almost upon the point of
recalling to his memory.
His journey across the plain was interrupted by the
discovery of a small herd of antelope in a little
swale, where the cover and the wind were well combined
to make stalking easy. A fat yearling rewarded a half
hour of stealthy creeping and a sudden, savage rush,
and it was late in the afternoon when the ape-man
settled himself upon his haunches beside his kill to
enjoy the fruits of his skill, his cunning, and his
prowess.
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
