| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: Rinkitink were still searching for the missing shoes.
Of course, they could not know that Nikobob had found
them, nor did the honest man think he had taken
anything more than a pair of cast-off shoes which
nobody wanted.
Nikobob had several miles to travel through the
forest before he could reach the little log cabin where
his wife, as well as his little daughter Zella, awaited
his return, but he was used to long walks and tramped
along the path whistling cheerfully to beguile the
time.
Rinkitink In Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: The congelation gains on us on all sides."
"How long will the air in the reservoirs last for us to breathe on board?"
The Captain looked in my face. "After to-morrow they will be empty!"
A cold sweat came over me. However, ought I to have been astonished
at the answer? On March 22, the Nautilus was in the open polar seas.
We were at 26@. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board.
And what was left of the respirable air must be kept for the workers.
Even now, as I write, my recollection is still so vivid that an
involuntary terror seizes me and my lungs seem to be without air.
Meanwhile, Captain Nemo reflected silently, and evidently an idea
had struck him; but he seemed to reject it. At last, these words
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: idea to extract the very essence of music. I will illustrate the
process."
He rose to carry the candles into the adjoining room, and before
sitting down again he drank a full glass of Giro, a Sardinian wine, as
full of fire as the old wines of Tokay can inspire.
"Now, you see," said Gambara, "this music is not written for
misbelievers, nor for those who know not love. If you have never
suffered from the virulent attacks of an evil spirit who shifts your
object just as you are taking aim, who puts a fatal end to your
highest hopes,--in one word, if you have never felt the devil's tail
whisking over the world, the opera of /Robert le Diable/ must be to
Gambara |
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 Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: they knew him well enough to recognize the danger.
At first the old man's grief appeared to be of a stubborn, harmless
nature. As soon as the funeral ceremonies were over he betook
himself to his bed, and there lay for two days and nights, without
eating a morsel of food. The poor Princess Helena, almost
prostrated by the blow, mourned alone, or with Boris, in her own
apartments. Her influence, no longer kept alive by her constant
presence, as formerly, began to decline. When the old Prince
aroused somewhat from his stupor, it was not meat that he demanded,
but drink; and he drank to angry excess. Day after day the habit
resumed its ancient sway, and the whip and the wild-beast yell
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