| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: were living in Moscow as water-carriers, and one was in the
army. At home now were the old man and his wife, their second
son who managed the homestead, the eldest who had come from
Moscow for the holiday, and all the women and children.
Besides these members of the family there was a visitor, a
neighbour who was godfather to one of the children.
Over the table in the room hung a lamp with a shade, which
brightly lit up the tea-things, a bottle of vodka, and some
refreshments, besides illuminating the brick walls, which in
the far corner were hung with icons on both sides of which were
pictures. At the head of the table sat Vasili Andreevich in a
Master and Man |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: Mercedes called to Yaqui. At her bidding there was always a suggestion
of hurry, which otherwise was never manifest in his actions. She
put a hand on his bared muscular arm and began to speak in Spanish.
Her voice was low, swift, full of deep emotion, sweet as the sound
of a bell. It thrilled Gale, though he understood scarcely a word
she said. He did not need translation to know that here spoke the
longing of a woman for life, love, home, the heritage of a woman's
heart.
Gale doubted his own divining impression. It was that the Yaqui
understood this woman's longing. In Gale's sight the Indian's
stoicism, his inscrutability, the lavalike hardness of his face,
Desert Gold |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: to talk. He said that he had been sent over on the previous afternoon
by Captain Walmsley, who was an officer of the Natal Government
stationed across the border, to try to make peace between the Zulu
factions, but that when he spoke of peace one of Umbelazi's brothers--I
think it was Mantantashiya--had mocked at him, saying that they were
quite strong enough to cope with the Usutu--that was Cetewayo's party.
Also, he added, that when he suggested that the thousands of women and
children and the cattle should be got across the Tugela drift during the
previous night into safety in Natal, Mantantashiya would not listen, and
Umbelazi being absent, seeking the aid of the Natal Government, he could
do nothing.
Child of Storm |
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 What is Man? by Mark Twain: has been frequent.
The murder of an empress is the largest of all events. One
must go back about two thousand years to find an instance to put
with this one. The oldest family of unchallenged descent in
Christendom lives in Rome and traces its line back seventeen
hundred years, but no member of it has been present in the earth
when an empress was murdered, until now. Many a time during
these seventeen centuries members of that family have been
startled with the news of extraordinary events--the destruction
of cities, the fall of thrones, the murder of kings, the wreck of
dynasties, the extinction of religions, the birth of new systems
What is Man? |
