| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Persuasion by Jane Austen: of the gentleman who is just gone away?"
"Yes, Sir, a Mr Elliot, a gentleman of large fortune, came in last night
from Sidmouth. Dare say you heard the carriage, sir, while you were
at dinner; and going on now for Crewkherne, in his way to Bath
and London."
"Elliot!" Many had looked on each other, and many had repeated the name,
before all this had been got through, even by the smart rapidity
of a waiter.
"Bless me!" cried Mary; "it must be our cousin; it must be our Mr Elliot,
it must, indeed! Charles, Anne, must not it? In mourning, you see,
just as our Mr Elliot must be. How very extraordinary!
Persuasion |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: years ago; but she inscribed her husband as a peasant. His father and
mother too were not law-abiding people, and both were inconceivable
drunkards. The afore-mentioned nobleman and robber, Pererepenko, in
his beastly and blameworthy actions, goes beyond all his family, and
under the guise of piety does the most immoral things. He does not
observe the fasts; for on the eve of St. Philip's this atheist bought
a sheep, and next day ordered his mistress, Gapka, to kill it,
alleging that he needed tallow for lamps and candles at once.
"Therefore I pray that the said nobleman, a manifest robber,
church-thief, and rascal, convicted of plundering and stealing, may be
put in irons, and confined in the jail or the government prison, and
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: long, slim knife that protruded from the greasy cord
supporting his soiled apron.
Rokoff saw the move and stopped short in his advance.
Then he turned toward Jane Clayton.
"I will give you until tomorrow," he said, "to reconsider your
answer to my offer. All will be sent ashore upon one pretext
or another except you and the child, Paulvitch and myself.
Then without interruption you will be able to witness the
death of the baby."
He spoke in French that the cook might not understand
the sinister portent of his words. When he had done he banged
The Beasts of Tarzan |
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 The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: breaks out again with his still unquenched hope of one day
destroying the gods and ruling the world through the ring, Wotan
is no longer shocked. He tells Alberic that Brother Mime
approaches with a hero whom Godhead can neither help nor hinder.
Alberic may try his luck against him without disturbance from
Valhalla. Perhaps, he suggests, if Alberic warns Fafnir, and
offers to deal with the hero for him, Fafnir, may give him the
ring. They accordingly wake up the dragon, who condescends to
enter into bellowing conversation, but is proof against their
proposition, strong in the magic of property. "I have and hold,"
he says: "leave me to sleep." Wotan, with a wise laugh, turns to
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