| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: he longs--what do you long for, Humphrey?"
"That which I have lost and fear I shall never find again," I
answered boldly.
"I know that you have lost many things--last night, for
instance, you lost Tommy, and when he slept with me he told me
much about you and--others."
"This is ridiculous," broke in Bastin. "Can a dog talk?"
"Everything can talk, if you understand its language, Bastin.
But keep a good heart, Humphrey, for the bold seeker finds in the
end. Oh! foolish man, do you not understand that all is yours if
you have but the soul to conceive and the will to grasp? All,
When the World Shook |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: said:
"You will only injure yourself if you
take notice of despicable enemies."
The Fox and the Stork
At one time the Fox and the Stork were on visiting terms and
seemed very good friends. So the Fox invited the Stork to dinner,
and for a joke put nothing before her but some soup in a very
shallow dish. This the Fox could easily lap up, but the Stork
could only wet the end of her long bill in it, and left the meal
as hungry as when she began. "I am sorry," said the Fox, "the
soup is not to your liking."
Aesop's Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: will dissolve, all these incompatibles will run together, and we
shall go on to mould our bodies and our bodily feelings and
personal reactions as boldly as we begin now to carve mountains
and set the seas in their places and change the currents of the
wind.'
'It is the next wave,' said Fowler, who had come out upon the
terrace and seated himself silently behind Karenin's chair.
'Of course, in the old days,' said Edwards, 'men were tied to
their city or their country, tied to the homes they owned or the
work they did....'
'I do not see,' said Karenin, 'that there is any final limit to
The Last War: A World Set Free |
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 Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: the honour without thanks. He was an old, heavy, slow-spoken man,
I think from Yankeeland, looked me all over with great timidity,
and then began to excuse himself in broken phrases. He didn't know
the young man, he said. The young man might be very honest, but
how was he to know that? There was another young man whom he had
met already in the train; he guessed he was honest, and would
prefer to chum with him upon the whole. All this without any sort
of excuse, as though I had been inanimate or absent. I began to
tremble lest every one should refuse my company, and I be left
rejected. But the next in turn was a tall, strapping, long-limbed,
small-headed, curly-haired Pennsylvania Dutchman, with a soldierly
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