| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: saw a gray-haired old man extended on the rocks. His eyes were
sunk, his features deadly pale and gathered into an expression of
despair. "Water!" he stretched his arms to Hans, and cried
feebly, "Water! I am dying."
"I have none," replied Hans; "thou hast had thy share of
life." He strode over the prostrate body and darted on. And a
flash of blue lightning rose out of the East, shaped like a sword;
it shook thrice over the whole heaven and left it dark with one
heavy, impenetrable shade. The sun was setting; it plunged towards
the horizon like a redhot ball.
The roar of the Golden River rose on Hans's ear. He stood
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: for those who were indifferent. Her faults grew with her growth, and
her parents were to gather the bitter fruits of this disastrous
education. At the age of nineteen Emilie de Fontaine had not yet been
pleased to make a choice from among the many young men whom her
father's politics brought to his entertainments. Though so young, she
asserted in society all the freedom of mind that a married woman can
enjoy. Her beauty was so remarkable that, for her, to appear in a room
was to be its queen; but, like sovereigns, she had no friends, though
she was everywhere the object of attentions to which a finer nature
than hers might perhaps have succumbed. Not a man, not even an old
man, had it in him to contradict the opinions of a young girl whose
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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 Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: the louder he cried, till his body shook with great violence. He
blew his red swollen nose with a loud noise so that his head came
off his slender neck, and he was fallen upon the grass.
"You see how it is, said the Fish, lashing his tail
impatiently, "these people were not warriors!" "Come!" he said,
"let us go on to make war."
Thus the Fish and the Turtle came to a large camp ground.
"Ho!" exclaimed the people of this round village of teepees,
"Who are these little ones? What do they seek?"
Neither of the warriors carried weapons with them, and their
unimposing stature misled the curious people.
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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 Dracula by Bram Stoker: excused himself, as he had dined out on his being away from home.
But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted whilst I ate.
After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the Count
stayed with me, chatting and asking questions on every
conceivable subject, hour after hour. I felt that it was
getting very late indeed, but I did not say anything, for I
felt under obligation to meet my host's wishes in every way.
I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified me,
but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes
over one at the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way,
the turn of the tide. They say that people who are near death
Dracula |
