| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: arrow. Again the big red eagle appeared on the edge of the bluff.
He plumed his feathers and flapped his huge wings.
The young man crouched low to the ground. He placed the arrow
on the bow, drawing a poisoned flint for the eagle.
The bird rose into the air. He moved his outspread wings one,
two, three times and lo! the eagle tumbled from the great height
and fell heavily to the earth. An arrow stuck in his breast! He
was dead!
So quick was the hand of the avenger, so sure his sight, that
no one had seen the arrow fly from his long bent bow.
In awe and amazement the village was dumb. And when the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: unfold their rays with the appropriate spontaneity of the
planets, coming out along the firmament one after another, as
the need arises. But the lamplighters took to their heels
every evening, and ran with a good heart. It was pretty to see
man thus emulating the punctuality of heaven's orbs; and
though perfection was not absolutely reached, and now and then
an individual may have been knocked on the head by the ladder
of the flying functionary, yet people commended his zeal in a
proverb, and taught their children to say, "God bless the
lamplighter!" And since his passage was a piece of the day's
programme, the children were well pleased to repeat the
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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 The Odyssey by Homer: with her if I could."
The immortal gods burst out laughing as they heard him, but
Neptune took it all seriously, and kept on imploring Vulcan to
set Mars free again. "Let him go," he cried, "and I will
undertake, as you require, that he shall pay you all the damages
that are held reasonable among the immortal gods."
"Do not," replied Vulcan, "ask me to do this; a bad man's bond
is bad security; what remedy could I enforce against you if Mars
should go away and leave his debts behind him along with his
chains?"
"Vulcan," said Neptune, "if Mars goes away without paying his
The Odyssey |
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 A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: She found it hard, however, to think of the latter as a person, for
was it not a bird, a flame, and sometimes only a breath? Perhaps it is
its light that at night hovers over swamps, its breath that propels
the clouds, its voice that renders church-bells harmonious. And
Felicite worshipped devoutly, while enjoying the coolness and the
stillness of the church.
As for the dogma, she could not understand it and did not even try.
The priest discoursed, the children recited, and she went to sleep,
only to awaken with a start when they were leaving the church and
their wooden shoes clattered on the stone pavement.
In this way, she learned her catechism, her religious education having
A Simple Soul |
