| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: again.
"To keep the daughter whom he loves he would strike into your
heart and mine without hesitation," said Mrs. Almayer. "When the
girl is gone he will be like the devil unchained. Then you and I
had better beware."
"I am an old man and fear not death," answered Babalatchi, with a
mendacious assumption of indifference. "But what will you do?"
"I am an old woman, and wish to live," retorted Mrs. Almayer.
"She is my daughter also. I shall seek safety at the feet of our
Rajah, speaking in the name of the past when we both were young,
and he--"
Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Euthydemus by Plato: my old person to Dionysodorus; he may put me into the pot, like Medea the
Colchian, kill me, boil me, if he will only make me good.
Ctesippus said: And I, Socrates, am ready to commit myself to the
strangers; they may skin me alive, if they please (and I am pretty well
skinned by them already), if only my skin is made at last, not like that of
Marsyas, into a leathern bottle, but into a piece of virtue. And here is
Dionysodorus fancying that I am angry with him, when really I am not angry
at all; I do but contradict him when I think that he is speaking improperly
to me: and you must not confound abuse and contradiction, O illustrious
Dionysodorus; for they are quite different things.
Contradiction! said Dionysodorus; why, there never was such a thing.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: What on earth is he doing there? Mr Verloc asked himself. What's
the meaning of these antics? He looked dubiously at his brother-
in-law, but he did not ask him for information. Mr Verloc's
intercourse with Stevie was limited to the casual mutter of a
morning, after breakfast, "My boots," and even that was more a
communication at large of a need than a direct order or request.
Mr Verloc perceived with some surprise that he did not know really
what to say to Stevie. He stood still in the middle of the
parlour, and looked into the kitchen in silence. Nor yet did he
know what would happen if he did say anything. And this appeared
very queer to Mr Verloc in view of the fact, borne upon him
The Secret Agent |
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 Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: which he burst into maniacal laughter. For two or three
minutes the creature gave himself over to merriment and then,
stopping as suddenly as he had commenced to laugh, he fell
to examining the prisoner. He felt of her hair, her skin, the
texture of the garment she wore and by means of signs made
her understand she was to open her mouth. In the latter he
seemed much interested, calling the attention of one of the
guards to her canine teeth and then baring his own sharp fangs
for the prisoner to see.
Presently he resumed pacing to and fro across the floor, and
it was fully fifteen minutes before he again noticed the pris-
Tarzan the Untamed |
