| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll: Some are Boojums--" The Bellman broke off in alarm,
For the Baker had fainted away.
Fit the Third
THE BAKER'S TALE
They roused him with muffins--they roused him with ice--
They roused him with mustard and cress--
They roused him with jam and judicious advice--
They set him conundrums to guess.
When at length he sat up and was able to speak,
His sad story he offered to tell;
And the Bellman cried "Silence! Not even a shriek!"
The Hunting of the Snark |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: people no peers. Art has been their mistress, though science has
never been their master. Perhaps for this very reason that art,
not science, has been the Muse they courted, the result has been all
the more widespread. For culture there is not the attainment of the
few, but the common property of the people. If the peaks of intellect
rise less eminent, the plateau of general elevation stands higher.
But little need be said to prove the civilization of a land where
ordinary tea-house girls are models of refinement, and common
coolies, when not at work, play chess for pastime.
If Japanese ways look odd at first sight, they but look more odd on
closer acquaintance. In a land where, to allow one's understanding
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: rusted, become stereotype; but I, I praise my happy constitution,
retain the spring unbroken. Fresh opulence and a new sphere of
duties find me unabated in ardour and only more mature by
knowledge. For this prospective change, Jean-Marie - it may
probably have shocked you. Tell me now, did it not strike you as
an inconsistency? Confess - it is useless to dissemble - it pained
you?'
'Yes,' said the boy.
'You see,' returned the Doctor, with sublime fatuity, 'I read your
thoughts! Nor am I surprised - your education is not yet complete;
the higher duties of men have not been yet presented to you fully.
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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 The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: Nickelplated fittings, stream line body, detachable whee- er-
that is, the waste also is constructed on a most ingenious
principle: we call it the 'Want-Not' pattern."
"Ah," she said quietly. " And what's the price of this -er-
paragon?"
I glanced at the ticket, knitting my brows.
"Well, it's listed at 'AWK/-', but to you, madam, the price is- "
I looked at her, smiling.
"Yes?" she said, with her grey eyes on mine. Her eyebrows were
raised a little, and the soft lips had taken on the curve that
tells of laughter hardly controlled.
The Brother of Daphne |
