| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: the sand, sniffing up the air with their nostrils.
And the young King wept, and said: 'Who were these men, and for
what were they seeking?'
'For rubies for a king's crown,' answered one who stood behind him.
And the young King started, and, turning round, he saw a man
habited as a pilgrim and holding in his hand a mirror of silver.
And he grew pale, and said: 'For what king?'
And the pilgrim answered: 'Look in this mirror, and thou shalt see
him.'
And he looked in the mirror, and, seeing his own face, he gave a
great cry and woke, and the bright sunlight was streaming into the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: extravagant newspaper laudations, as if he was a most saintly
philanthropist. The simple truth is, he was a coarse, dirty man,
headstrong and bigoted. He was not sent to Molokai, but went there
without orders; did not stay at the leper settlement (before he
became one himself), but circulated freely over the whole island
(less than half the island is devoted to the lepers), and he came
often to Honolulu. He had no hand in the reforms and improvements
inaugurated, which were the work of our Board of Health, as
occasion required and means were provided. He was not a pure man
in his relations with women, and the leprosy of which he died
should be attributed to his vices and carelessness. Other have
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