| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: pocket, an inch at a time.
"For God's sake, Minnie," he exclaimed, "return this--this
garment to--whomever it belongs to!"
He handed it to me, and it was Miss Cobb's black tights! I stood
and stared.
"And then," he went on, reaching for the package on the table,
"when you've done that, return to `Binkie' these letters from her
Jonesie."
He took the newspaper off the bundle then, and I saw it was
wrapped with a lavender ribbon. I sat down and gazed at him,
fascinated. He was the saddest-eyed piece of remorse I'd seen
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: There was a dead silence for a moment. Then the stranger stretched forth
his hand. 'Yet in that leaving him, remember;--It is not the act, but the
will, which marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation sins no
more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest creature. The
stagnant pool is not less poisonous drop for drop than the mighty swamp,
though its reach be smaller. He who has desired to be and accomplish what
this man has been and accomplished, is as this man; though he have lacked
the power to perform. Nay, remember this one thing more:--Certain sons of
God are born on earth, named by men Children of Genius. In early youth
each stands at the parting of the way and chooses; he bears his gift for
others or for himself. But forget this never, whatever his choice may be;
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: to their lips, because of their handcuffs which there was no time
to remove. All this, and Heaven knows how much more, was done
amidst a noise, a hurry, and distraction, like nothing that we know
of, even in our dreams; which seemed for ever on the rise, and
never to decrease for the space of a single instant.
He was still looking down from his window upon these things, when a
band of men with torches, ladders, axes, and many kinds of weapons,
poured into the yard, and hammering at his door, inquired if there
were any prisoner within. He left the window when he saw them
coming, and drew back into the remotest corner of the cell; but
although he returned them no answer, they had a fancy that some one
Barnaby Rudge |
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 Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: historiographer, the state of things which existed in the time
of his father or grandfather. To his mind the occurrences
which he described were those of a remote, a wonderful, a
semi-divine past.
This conclusion, which I have thus far supported merely by
reference to the Iliad itself, becomes irresistible as soon as
we take into account the results obtained during the past
thirty years by the science of comparative mythology. As long
as our view was restricted to Greece, it was perhaps excusable
that Achilleus and Paris should be taken for exaggerated
copies of actual persons. Since the day when Grimm laid the
Myths and Myth-Makers |
