| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: That force was necessary is evident from the fact that she
condemned to death a number of his servants after she had taken
the throne.
When the Emperor heard that she was coming he sent a messenger
with letters urging Kang Yu-wei to flee, and to devise some means
for saving the situation, while he attempted to find refuge for
himself in the foreign legations. This however he failed to do,
but was taken by the Empress Dowager, and his career as a ruler
ended, and his life as a prisoner began.
X
Kuang Hsu--As a Prisoner
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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 Rescue by Joseph Conrad: trouble? It is your face that I brought back with me on board my
brig. I don't know why. I didn't look at you more than at anybody
else. It took me all my time to keep my temper down lest it
should burn you all up. I didn't want to be rude to you people,
but I found it wasn't very easy because threats were the only
argument I had. Was I very offensive, Mrs. Travers?"
She had listened tense and very attentive, almost stern. And it
was without the slightest change of expression that she said:
"I think that you bore yourself appropriately to the state of
life to which it has pleased God to call you."
"What state?" muttered Lingard to himself. "I am what I am. They
The Rescue |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Message by Honore de Balzac: "Monsieur, if it is not abusing your good-nature, and acting very
inconsiderately towards a stranger to whom we are already under
obligations, would you have the goodness, as you are going to
Paris, to remit a sum of money to M. de ---- (I forget the name),
in the Rue du Sentier; I owe him an amount, and he asked me to
send it as soon as possible."
"Willingly," said I. And in the innocence of my heart, I took
charge of a rouleau of twenty-five louis d'or, which paid the
expenses of my journey back to Paris; and only when, on my
arrival, I went to the address indicated to repay the amount to
M. de Montpersan's correspondent, did I understand the ingenious
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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 Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: north and south, searching the hears of men. Then they crept round and
round the great ring like cats; then they threw themselves upon the
earth and smelt it. And all the time there was silence, silence deep
as midnight, and in it men hearkened to the beating of their hearts;
only now and again the vultures shrieked in the trees.
At length Nobela spoke:--
"Do you smell him, sisters?"
"We smell him," they answered.
"Does he sit in the east, sisters?"
"He sits in the east," they answered.
"Is he the son of a stranger, sisters?"
Nada the Lily |
