| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: him -- but you know in that writing the place was marked out so
that even a woman could find it. Do you know where it is? At
Bogata Bylotchka at the spot, you know, where the ravine parts
like a goose's foot into three little ravines; it is the middle
one."
"Well, will you dig?"
"I will try my luck. . ."
"And, grandfather, what will you do with the treasure when you
find it?"
"Do with it?" laughed the old man. "H'm! . . . If only I could
find it then. . . . I would show them all. . . . H'm! . . . I
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: not for food that I rose at the child"s hands. They were so
clear a mark that I did not even look when I closed; but they
were so small that though my jaws rang true--I am sure of that--
the child drew them up swiftly, unhurt. They must have passed
between tooth and tooth--those small white hands. I should have
caught him cross-wise at the elbows; but, as I said, it was only
for sport and desire to see new things that I rose at all.
They cried out one after another in the boat, and presently
I rose again to watch them. The boat was too heavy to push over.
They were only women, but he who trusts a woman will walk on
duckweed in a pool, as the saying is: and by the Right and Left
The Second Jungle Book |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: Curtis, and was not best pleased to see my mahogany-coloured
face instead.
'Is there aught wrong with my Lord, Macumazahn, that he waits
not upon me? Say, is he sick?'
I said that he was well enough, and then, without further ado,
I plunged into my story and told it from beginning to end. Oh,
what a rage she flew into! It was a sight to see her, she looked
so lovely.
'How darest thou come to me with such a tale?' she cried. 'It
is a lie to say that my Lord was making love to Sorais, my sister.'
'Pardon me, oh Queen,' I answered, 'I said that Sorais was making
Allan Quatermain |
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 When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: gates I started, for there, in the centre of that glorious
building, I perceived a change. The statue of Fate was no more!
It lay broken upon the pavement among those fragments of its two
worshippers which I had seen shaken down some hours before.
"What does this mean?" I whispered to Yva. "I have felt no
other earthquake."
"I do not know," she answered, "or if I know I may not say. Yet
learn that no god can live on without a single worshipper, and,
in a fashion, that idol was alive, though this you will not
believe."
"How very remarkable," said Bastin, contemplating the ruin. "If
When the World Shook |
