| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: he took down his great fur coat, and his warm scarlet cap, and tied
a muffler round his throat, and started off.
"What a dreadful storm it was! The night was so black that little
Hans could hardly see, and the wind was so strong that he could
scarcely stand. However, he was very courageous, and after he had
been walking about three hours, he arrived at the Doctor's house,
and knocked at the door.
"'Who is there?' cried the Doctor, putting his head out of his
bedroom window.
"'Little Hans, Doctor.'
"'What do you want, little Hans?'
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: My life is hers' and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for her."
The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old
knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer.
"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that, not the last!"
"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostrils
quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder.
"Come!" he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want.
You are better than me, better than my friend John."
Arthur looked bewildered, and the Professor went on by explaining
in a kindly way.
"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she
Dracula |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: and future woe, that, to speak somewhat after his own rich style,
he seems to hang the bridal chamber in black, and cut the wedding
garment out of a coffin pall. And it has been the custom of
divers nations to infuse something of sadness into their marriage
ceremonies, so to keep death in mind while contracting that
engagement which is life's chiefest business. Thus we may draw a
sad but profitable moral from this funeral knell."
But, though the clergyman might have given his moral even a
keener point, he did not fail to dispatch an attendant to inquire
into the mystery, and stop those sounds, so dismally appropriate
to such a marriage. A brief space elapsed, during which the
Twice Told Tales |
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 Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: following:--
510. Grassou de Fougeres (Pierre), rue de Navarin, 2.
Death-toilet of a Chouan, condemned to execution in 1809.
Though wholly second-rate, the picture had immense success, for it
recalled the affair of the "chauffeurs," of Mortagne. A crowd
collected every day before the now fashionable canvas; even Charles X.
paused to look at it. "Madame," being told of the patient life of the
poor Breton, became enthusiastic over him. The Duc d'Orleans asked the
price of the picture. The clergy told Madame la Dauphine that the
subject was suggestive of good thoughts; and there was, in truth, a
most satisfying religious tone about it. Monseigneur the Dauphin
|
