| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: And must I go, and must I needs depart?
Ye goodly groves, partakers of my songs
In time tofore when fortune did not frown,
Pour forth your plaints and wail a while with me;
And thou bright sun, my comfort in the cold,
Hide, hide thy face and leave me comfortless;
Ye wholesome herbs, and sweet smelling favors,
Ye each thing else prolonging life of man,
Change, change your wonted course, that I,
Wanting your aide, in woeful sort may die.
[Enter Amadine and Ariana her maid.]
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: sake of my little ones leave us in peace."
Mother badger, in her excited way, had pierced hard through
the buckskin and stuck her fingers repeatedly with her sharp awl
until she had laid aside her work. Now, while her husband was
talking to the bear, she motioned with her hands to the children.
On tiptoe they hastened to her side.
For reply came a low growl. It grew louder and more fierce.
"Wa-ough!" he roared, and by force hurled the badgers out. First
the father badger; then the mother. The little badgers he tossed
by pairs. He threw them hard upon the ground. Standing in the
entrance way and showing his ugly teeth, he snarled, "Be gone!"
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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 The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: Wetzel knew that Joe was conscious of this inevitable conclusion, for it
showed in his white face, and in the resolve in his big, gray eyes.
So there, in the shade of a towering oak, the Indian-killer admitted the boy
into his friendship, and into a life which would no longer be play, but
eventful, stirring, hazardous.
"Wal, lad, stay," he said, with that rare smile which brightened his dark face
like a ray of stray sunshine. "We'll hang round these diggins a few days.
First off, we'll take in the lay of the land. You go down stream a ways an'
scout round some, while I go up, an' then circle down. Move slow, now, an'
don't miss nothin'."
Joe followed the stream a mile or more. He kept close in the shade of willows,
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: life--of which you were good enough to throw something in my
teeth when I was last here--I have never done that, and I will
not!'
'And so you set him free?'
'Yes.'
'After you had brought him to Auch?'
'Yes.'
'And, in point of fact, saved him from falling into the hands of
the Commandant at Auch?'
'Yes,' I answered desperately to all.
'Then, what of the trust I placed in you, sirrah?' he rejoined,
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