| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: him.
"Hold!" said Jupiter; "this self-made bird has more sense than any
of you. He is your king."
The Lion and the Mouse
A LION who had caught a Mouse was about to kill him, when the Mouse
said:
"If you will spare my life, I will do as much for you some day."
The Lion, good-naturedly let him go. It happened shortly
afterwards that the Lion was caught by some hunters and bound with
cords. The Mouse, passing that way, and seeing that his benefactor
was helpless, gnawed off his tail.
Fantastic Fables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: as if he were a Protestant Pope. She was not in the least teaching
Mr. Casaubon to ask if he were good enough for her, but merely asking
herself anxiously how she could be good enough for Mr. Casaubon.
Before he left the next day it had been decided that the marriage
should take place within six weeks. Why not? Mr. Casaubon's house
was ready. It was not a parsonage, but a considerable mansion,
with much land attached to it. The parsonage was inhabited by
the curate, who did all the duty except preaching the morning sermon.
CHAPTER VI.
My lady's tongue is like the meadow blades,
That cut you stroking them with idle hand.
Middlemarch |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: One day I was loaded more than usual, and part of the road
was a steep uphill. I used all my strength, but I could not get on,
and was obliged continually to stop. This did not please my driver,
and he laid his whip on badly. "Get on, you lazy fellow," he said,
"or I'll make you."
Again I started the heavy load, and struggled on a few yards;
again the whip came down, and again I struggled forward.
The pain of that great cart whip was sharp, but my mind was hurt
quite as much as my poor sides. To be punished and abused
when I was doing my very best was so hard it took the heart out of me.
A third time he was flogging me cruelly, when a lady
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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 Poems by Bronte Sisters: So, if a tear, when thou art dying,
Should haply fall from me,
It is but that my soul is sighing,
To go and rest with thee.
MY COMFORTER.
Well hast thou spoken, and yet not taught
A feeling strange or new;
Thou hast but roused a latent thought,
A cloud-closed beam of sunshine brought
To gleam in open view.
Deep down, concealed within my soul,
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