| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: "Your father is my friend, child. This is for
him----"
He bent quickly and kissed her lips, while Jim
gasped in astonishment.
The minister's wife congratulated them both. The
two older children smilingly advanced and added their
voices in good wishes.
Mary whispered to Jim:
"Don't forget the preacher's fee!"
"Lord, how much? Will fifty be enough? It's all
I've got."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: He, the young man carbuncular, arrives,
A small house agent's clerk, with one bold stare,
One of the low on whom assurance sits
As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire.
The time is now propitious, as he guesses,
The meal is ended, she is bored and tired,
Endeavours to engage her in caresses
Which still are unreproved, if undesired.
Flushed and decided, he assaults at once;
Exploring hands encounter no defence; 240
His vanity requires no response,
The Waste Land |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: upon;--and if I tell it here--I anticipate matters, and ruin it there.
--What would your worship have me to do in this case?
--Tell it, Mr Shandy, by all means.--You are a fool, Tristram, if you do.
O ye powers! (for powers ye are, and great ones too)--which enable mortal
man to tell a story worth the hearing--that kindly shew him, where he is to
begin it--and where he is to end it--what he is to put into it--and what he
is to leave out--how much of it he is to cast into a shade--and whereabouts
he is to throw his light!--Ye, who preside over this vast empire of
biographical freebooters, and see how many scrapes and plunges your
subjects hourly fall into;--will you do one thing?
I beg and beseech you (in case you will do nothing better for us) that
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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 Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: off one of the silver buttons from his coat.
"I had them," says he, "from my father, Duncan Stewart; and now
give ye one of them to be a keepsake for last night's work. And
wherever ye go and show that button, the friends of Alan Breck
will come around you."
He said this as if he had been Charlemagne, and commanded armies;
and indeed, much as I admired his courage, I was always in danger
of smiling at his vanity: in danger, I say, for had I not kept my
countenance, I would be afraid to think what a quarrel might have
followed.
As soon as we were through with our meal he rummaged in the
Kidnapped |
