| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: else came around."
"Try yer hand at cleanin' 'em fer breakfast," continued Jeff, beginning to
busy himself with preparations for that meal. "Wal, wal, if he ain't
surprisin'! He'll do somethin' out here on the frontier, sure as I'm a born
sinner," he muttered to himself, wagging his head in his quaint manner.
Breakfast over, Jeff transferred the horses to the smaller raft, which he had
cut loose from his own, and, giving a few directions to Bill, started
down-stream with Mr. Wells and the girls.
The rafts remained close together for a while, but as the current quickened
and was more skillfully taken advantage of by Jeff, the larger raft gained
considerable headway, gradually widening the gap between the two.
The Spirit of the Border |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Paradise Lost by John Milton: She most, and in her look sums all delight:
Such pleasure took the Serpent to behold
This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve
Thus early, thus alone: Her heavenly form
Angelick, but more soft, and feminine,
Her graceful innocence, her every air
Of gesture, or least action, overawed
His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved
His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought:
That space the Evil-one abstracted stood
From his own evil, and for the time remained
Paradise Lost |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: you, sire! Greece is made over to you. and Constantinople is
given to you by all those of your empire, because of the right
you have to them. Your uncle (but you know it not) is dead of
the grief he felt because he could not discover you. His grief
was such that he lost his mind; he would neither drink nor eat,
but died like a man beside himself. Fair sire, now come back
again! For all your lords have sent for you. Greatly they
desire and long for you, wishing to make you their emperor."
Some there were that rejoiced at this; and others there were who
would have gladly seen their guests elsewhere, and the fleet make
sail for Greece. But the expedition is given up, and the King
|
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 Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: "It is quick that he is," said Gascoyne, speaking up in his
friend's behalf. "For the second time that Falworth delivered the
stroke, Sir James could not reach him to return; so I saw with
mine own eyes."
But that very sterling independence that had brought Myles so
creditably through this adventure was certain to embroil him with
the rude, half-savage lads about him, some of whom, especially
among the bachelors, were his superiors as well in age as in
skill and training. As said before, the bachelors had enforced
from the younger boys a fagging sort of attendance on their
various personal needs, and it was upon this point that Myles
Men of Iron |
