| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: to the wind, and the ear on the hark. Their days were
passed in endeavoring to catch all that was said, in
observing the proceeding of the cardinal, and in looking out
for all the couriers who arrived. More than once an
involuntary trembling seized them when called upon for some
unexpected service. They had, besides, to look constantly
to their own proper safety; Milday was a phantom which, when
it had once appeared to people, did not allow them to sleep
very quietly.
On the morning of the eighth day, Bazin, fresh as ever, and
smiling, according to custom, entered the cabaret of the
The Three Musketeers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: animal life as opposed to vegetable- since the ram. Up hill,
down dale, along roads, along imitation roads, along future
roads, along past roads, across moors I had tramped doggedly,
blindly, and rather angrily. If I had had one match- only one
match- it would have been different.
Yes, it was a dog-cart. And through the gloom I could distinctly
see the shape of some one sitting in it, holding the reins.
I quickened my steps.
"I say, have you got a match?"
A girl's voice.
"That's about the worst thing you could have said." said I.
The Brother of Daphne |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Pupil by Henry James: they "really ought" to do, fell inevitably into the languages in
which they could tutoyer. Even Pemberton liked them then; he could
endure even Ulick when he heard him give his little flat voice for
the "sweet sea-city." That was what made him have a sneaking
kindness for them - that they were so out of the workaday world and
kept him so out of it. The summer had waned when, with cries of
ecstasy, they all passed out on the balcony that overhung the Grand
Canal. The sunsets then were splendid and the Dorringtons had
arrived. The Dorringtons were the only reason they hadn't talked
of at breakfast; but the reasons they didn't talk of at breakfast
always came out in the end. The Dorringtons on the other hand came
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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 Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: I can scarce move without a howl.
MONDAY, 10TH.
Some news that Mataafa is gone to Savaii by way of Manono;
this may mean a great deal more warfaring, and no great
issue. (When Sosimo came in this morning with my breakfast
he had to lift me up. It is no joke to play lawn tennis
after carrying your right arm in a sling so many years.)
What a hard, unjust business this is! On the 28th, if
Mataafa had moved, he could have still swept Mulinuu. He
waited, and I fear he is now only the stick of a rocket.
WEDNESDAY, 12TH.
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