The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: "My letter of recommendation!" cried D'Artagnan, "my letter of
recommendation! or, the holy blood, I will spit you all like
ortolans!"
Unfortunately, there was one circumstance which created a
powerful obstacle to the accomplishment of this threat; which
was, as we have related, that his sword had been in his first
conflict broken in two, and which he had entirely forgotten.
Hence, it resulted when D'Artagnan proceeded to draw his sword in
earnest, he found himself purely and simply armed with a stump of
a sword about eight or ten inches in length, which the host had
carefully placed in the scabbard. As to the rest of the blade,
 The Three Musketeers |
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 Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling: a sickness; perhaps he had gone to his Gods to learn how to do us
new harm. But he went, and we breathed more freely. The
women sang again; the children were not so much guarded; our
flocks grazed far out. I took mine yonder'- he pointed inland to
the hazy line of the Weald -'where the new grass was best. They
grazed north. I followed till we were close to the Trees' - he
lowered his voice - 'close there where the Children of the Night
live.' He pointed north again.
'Ah, now I remember a thing,' said Puck. 'Tell me, why did
your people fear the Trees so extremely?'
'Because the Gods hate the Trees and strike them with lightning.
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