| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Richard III by William Shakespeare: SCENE 5.
London. The Tower-walls
Enter GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM in rotten armour, marvellous
ill-favoured
GLOUCESTER. Come, cousin, canst thou quake and change
thy colour,
Murder thy breath in middle of a word,
And then again begin, and stop again,
As if thou were distraught and mad with terror?
BUCKINGHAM. Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian;
Speak and look back, and pry on every side,
Richard III |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: three regiments under his command, and gone over to Cetewayo, thereby
bringing Umbelazi to defeat and death.
This brief statement of the case for the prosecution being finished,
Panda asked Saduko whether he pleaded guilty or not guilty.
"Guilty, O King," he answered, and was silent.
Then Panda asked him if he had anything to say in excuse of his conduct.
"Nothing, O King, except that I was Umbelazi's man, and when you, O
King, had given the word that he and the Prince yonder might fight, I,
like many others, some of whom are dead and some alive, worked for him
with all my ten fingers that he might have the victory."
"Then why did you desert my son the Prince in the battle?" asked Panda.
Child of Storm |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Main Street by Sinclair Lewis: sure! He'll come in stinking of gasoline, and cranky from
hard work, and hinting around that if it hadn't been for you,
he'd of gone East and been a great artist. Sure! And you'll
be entertaining his relatives---- Talk about Uncle Whit!
You'll be having some old Axel Axelberg coming in with manure
on his boots and sitting down to supper in his socks and yelling
at you, `Hurry up now, you vimmin make me sick!' Yes,
and you'll have a squalling brat every year, tugging at you
while you press clothes, and you won't love 'em like you do
Hugh up-stairs, all downy and asleep----"
"Please! Not any more!"
|
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 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: perish on the open sea."
On perceiving me, the stranger addressed me in English, although with
a foreign accent. "Before I come on board your vessel," said he,
"will you have the kindness to inform me whither you are bound?"
You may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question
addressed to me from a man on the brink of destruction and to whom
I should have supposed that my vessel would have been a resource
which he would not have exchanged for the most precious wealth the
earth can afford. I replied, however, that we were on a voyage of
discovery towards the northern pole.
Upon hearing this he appeared satisfied and consented to come on board.
Frankenstein |
