| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling: that no man Was idle. Truly, as Hugh said, and Witta
would laugh at him, a ship is all more care than a Manor.
'How? Thus. There was water to fetch from the shore
when we could find it, as well as wild fruit and grasses,
and sand for scrubbing of the decks and benches to keep
them sweet. Also we hauled the ship out on low islands
and emptied all her gear, even to the iron wedges, and
burned off the weed, that had grown on her, with torches
of rush, and smoked below the decks with rushes
dampened in salt water, as Hlaf the Woman orders in her
Ship-Book. Once when we were thus stripped, and the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Then I will undertake to make the first wish. Give me one of the Silver
Pills."
This the Scarecrow tried to do; but his padded gloves were too clumsy to
clutch so small an object, and he held the box toward the boy while Tip
selected one of the pills and swallowed it.
"Count!" cried the Scarecrow.
"One-half, one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven,!" counted Tip. thirteen,
fifteen, seventeen.
"Now wish!" said the Tin Woodman anxiously:
But Just then the boy began to suffer such fearful pains that he became
alarmed.
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: minute hand with hers, and at last started up and came away. I
regained the parlour before her. Entering it two minutes later
she said quietly as she put down her extinguished lamp--
"Victor rests well: he smiled in his sleep; he has your smile,
monsieur."
The said Victor was of course her own boy, born in the third year
of our marriage: his Christian name had been given him in honour
of M. Vandenhuten, who continued always our trusty and
well-beloved friend.
Frances was then a good and dear wife to me, because I was to her
a good, just, and faithful husband. What she would have been had
The Professor |
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 Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: tears of love and of despair. At sight of them the lady trembled and
betrayed herself. Both had, no doubt, long resisted and could resist
no longer a love increasing day by day through invincible obstacles,
nurtured by terror, strengthened by youth. The lady was moderately
handsome; but her pallid skin told of secret sufferings that made her
interesting. She had, moreover, an elegant figure, and the finest hair
in the world. Guarded by a tiger, she risked her life in whispering a
word, accepting a look, and permitting a mere pressure of the hand.
Love may never have been more deeply felt than in those hearts, never
more delightfully enjoyed, but certainly no passion was ever more
perilous. It was easy to divine that to these two beings air, sound,
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