| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: to chide thee for leaving my bidding undone; but thou hast been
paid all I owed thee, full measure, pressed down and overflowing,
by this good fellow. Marry, 'a did reach out his arm full
length while thou stood gaping at him, and, with a pretty rap,
tumbled thee over as never have I seen one tumbled before."
So spoke bold Robin, and all the time Little John sat upon
the ground, looking as though he had sour curds in his mouth.
"What may be thy name, good fellow?" said Robin, next, turning
to the Tanner.
"Men do call me Arthur a Bland," spoke up the Tanner boldly,
"and now what may be thy name?"
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: same valley, he said), and all the time a great noise
of wind went on outside and heavy blows fell--
boom! boom! An awful sickness overcame him,
even to the point of making him neglect his pray-
ers. Besides, one could not tell whether it was
morning or evening. It seemed always to be night
in that place.
"Before that he had been travelling a long, long
time on the iron track. He looked out of the win-
dow, which had a wonderfully clear glass in it, and
the trees, the houses, the fields, and the long roads
Amy Foster |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: Her hair, nor loose nor tied in formal plat,
Proclaim'd in her a careless hand of pride;
For some, untuck'd, descended her sheav'd hat,
Hanging her pale and pined cheek beside;
Some in her threaden fillet still did bide,
And, true to bondage, would not break from thence,
Though slackly braided in loose negligence.
A thousand favours from a maund she drew
Of amber, crystal, and of beaded jet,
Which one by one she in a river threw,
Upon whose weeping margent she was set;
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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 A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: grass, and make his way across the terrace to the palace.
'He should certainly be kept indoors for the rest of his natural
life,' they said. 'Look at his hunched back, and his crooked
legs,' and they began to titter.
But the little Dwarf knew nothing of all this. He liked the birds
and the lizards immensely, and thought that the flowers were the
most marvellous things in the whole world, except of course the
Infanta, but then she had given him the beautiful white rose, and
she loved him, and that made a great difference. How he wished
that he had gone back with her! She would have put him on her
right hand, and smiled at him, and he would have never left her
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