| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: the Cuckoo and Molothrus, should agree in this one strange
habit of their parasitical propagation, whilst opposed to each
other in almost every other habit: the molothrus, like our
starling, is eminently sociable, and lives on the open plains
without art or disguise: the cuckoo, as every one knows,
is a singularly shy bird; it frequents the most retired thickets,
and feeds on fruit and caterpillars. In structure also
these two genera are widely removed from each other.
Many theories, even phrenological theories, have been advanced
to explain the origin of the cuckoo laying its eggs in
other birds' nests. M. Prevost alone, I think, has thrown
The Voyage of the Beagle |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: Archipelago in search of money and adventure. Bold, reckless,
keen in business, not disinclined for a brush with the pirates
that were to be found on many a coast as yet, making money fast,
they used to have a general "rendezvous" in the bay for purposes
of trade and dissipation. The Dutch merchants called those men
English pedlars; some of them were undoubtedly gentlemen for whom
that kind of life had a charm; most were seamen; the acknowledged
king of them all was Tom Lingard, he whom the Malays, honest or
dishonest, quiet fishermen or desperate cut-throats, recognised
as "the Rajah-Laut"--the King of the Sea.
Almayer had heard of him before he had been three days in
Almayer's Folly |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey: young and pretty he thought, watched him from a door. No one
else appeared to notice him.
Presently the trail widened into a road, and that into a kind
of square lined by a number of adobe and log buildings of
rudest structure. Within sight were horses, dogs, a couple of
steers, Mexican women with children, and white men, all of whom
appeared to be doing nothing. His advent created no interest
until he rode up to the white men, who were lolling in the
shade of a house. This place evidently was a store and saloon,
and from the inside came a lazy hum of voices.
As Duane reined to a halt one of the loungers in the shade rose
The Lone Star Ranger |
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 Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: while the Samoans - men, women, and children - trooped in through
all the open doors, some carrying lanterns if the evening were
dark, all moving quietly and dropping with Samoan decorum in a wide
semicircle on the floor beneath a great lamp that hung from the
ceiling. The service began by my son reading a chapter from the
Samoan Bible, Tusitala following with a prayer in English,
sometimes impromptu, but more often from the notes in this little
book, interpolating or changing with the circumstance of the day.
Then came the singing of one or more hymns in the native tongue,
and the recitation in concert of the Lord's Prayer, also in Samoan.
Many of these hymns were set to ancient tunes, very wild and
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