| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: with the navvy's long knife, and covered up the blood with sand, and buried
the entrails and skin. Then they talked, and quarrelled a little; and then
they talked quietly again.
The Hottentot man put a leg of the kid under his coat and left the rest of
the meat for the two in the sluit, and walked away.
When little Jannita awoke it was almost sunset. She sat up very
frightened, but her goats were all about her. She began to drive them
home. "I do not think there are any lost," she said.
Dirk, the Hottentot, had brought his flock home already, and stood at the
kraal door with his ragged yellow trousers. The fat old Boer put his stick
across the door, and let Jannita's goats jump over, one by one. He counted
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: as King of Beasts; the second is mine as arbiter; another share
comes to me for my part in the chase; and as for the fourth
quarter, well, as for that, I should like to see which of you will
dare to lay a paw upon it."
"Humph," grumbled the Fox as he walked away with his tail
between his legs; but he spoke in a low growl
."You may share the labours of the great,
but you will not share the spoil."
The Wolf and the Crane
A Wolf had been gorging on an animal he had killed, when
suddenly a small bone in the meat stuck in his throat and he could
Aesop's Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: again.
In about an hour Glinda appeared, looking grave and
thoughtful.
"Your Majesty," she said to Ozma, "the Skeezers live
on a Magic Isle in a great lake. For that reason --
because the Skeezers deal in magic -- I can learn
little about them."
"Why, I didn't know there was a lake in that part of
Oz," exclaimed Ozma. "The map shows a river running
through the Skeezer Country, but no lake."
"That is because the person who made the map never
Glinda of Oz |
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 Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: With growing amazement the maiden listened, losing no single word, to
the frank, sincere language in which, as in a mirror, the young,
strong spirit reflected itself. Each simple word of this speech,
uttered in a voice which penetrated straight to the depths of her
heart, was clothed in power. She advanced her beautiful face, pushed
back her troublesome hair, opened her mouth, and gazed long, with
parted lips. Then she tried to say something and suddenly stopped,
remembering that the warrior was known by a different name; that his
father, brothers, country, lay beyond, grim avengers; that the
Zaporozhtzi besieging the city were terrible, and that the cruel death
awaited all who were within its walls, and her eyes suddenly filled
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
