| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: Garlanded boys and maidens sang together in tune.
Tamatea the placable went with a lingering foot;
He sang as loud as a bird, he whistled hoarse as a flute;
He broiled in the sun, he breathed in the grateful shadow of trees,
In the icy stream of the rivers he waded over the knees;
And still in his empty mind crowded, a thousand-fold,
The deeds of the strong and the songs of the cunning heroes of old.
And now was he come to a place Taiarapu honoured the most,
Where a silent valley of woods debouched on the noisy coast,
Spewing a level river. There was a haunt of Pai. (2)
There, in his potent youth, when his parents drove him to die,
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: "Here I am, Asenath," he said at length, hoarsely. "I said it was
death, didn't I? Well, it's worse than death, I suppose; but what
matter? You can't be more lost to me now than you were already.
This is THY doing, Friend Eli," he continued, turning to the old
man, with a sneering emphasis on the "THY." "I hope thee's
satisfied with thy work!"
Here he burst into a bitter, mocking laugh, which it chilled
Asenath's blood to hear.
The old man turned pale. "Come away, child!" said he, tugging at
her arm. But she stood firm, strengthened for the moment by a
solemn feeling of duty which trampled down her pain.
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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 All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare: breaking of my Spanish sword.
FIRST LORD. {Aside.]
We cannot afford you so.
PAROLLES.
Or the baring of my beard; and to say it was in stratagem.
FIRST LORD. {Aside.]
'Twould not do.
PAROLLES.
Or to drown my clothes, and say I was stripped.
FIRST LORD. {Aside.]
Hardly serve.
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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 Second Home by Honore de Balzac: fireplace, all gave a pleasant sense of the perfect cleanliness and
thrift that pervaded the dull and gloomy home.
The old woman's pale, withered face was quite in harmony with the
darkness of the street and the mustiness of the place. As she sat
there, motionless, in her chair, it might have been thought that she
was as inseparable from the house as a snail from its brown shell; her
face, alert with a vague expression of mischief, was framed in a flat
cap made of net, which barely covered her white hair; her fine, gray
eyes were as quiet as the street, and the many wrinkles in her face
might be compared to the cracks in the walls. Whether she had been
born to poverty, or had fallen from some past splendor, she now seemed
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