| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: III. "_pertubata seu inordinata,_ " as Euclid has it."
XXX. cry, "Thalatta! thalatta!" the sea! the sea! The deeply indented
shore was lined with a breadth of fine shining sand, softly
XXXII. hippopotamus. {as if the creator, pressed for time in the
first hours of the world, had assembled several animals into one.}
The colossal mastodon
XXXII. I return to the scriptural periods or ages of the world,
conventionally called 'days,' long before the appearance of man when
the unfinished world was as yet unfitted for his support. {I return
to the biblical epochs of the creation, well in advance of the birth
of man, when the incomplete earth was not yet sufficient for him.}
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: happy!" said sensible Peter, in a vexed tone. "The idea of shutting
out such a generous friend to their little ones!"
"But it is my intention to make children happy whether their parents
wish it or not," returned Santa Claus. "Years ago, when I first
began making toys, children were even more neglected by their parents
than they are now; so I have learned to pay no attention to thoughtless
or selfish parents, but to consider only the longings of childhood."
"You are right, my master," said Nuter, the Ryl; "many children would
lack a friend if you did not consider them, and try to make them happy."
"Then," declared the laughing Wisk, "we must abandon any thought of
using these new-fashioned chimneys, but become burglars, and break
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: up into the clear air. A Chinaman, curled down in the
stern of one of the half-dozen sampans floating off the
end of the jetty, caught sight of a beckoning hand.
He jumped up, rolled his pigtail round his head swiftly,
tucked in two rapid movements his wide dark trousers
high up his yellow thighs, and by a single, noiseless, fin-
like stir of the oars, sheered the sampan alongside the
steps with the ease and precision of a swimming
fish.
"Sofala," articulated Captain Whalley from above;
and the Chinaman, a new emigrant probably, stared
End of the Tether |
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 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: out of him by a supernatural power.
"I pulled the string of the whistle, and I did this because I
saw the pilgrims on deck getting out their rifles with an air
of anticipating a jolly lark. At the sudden screech there was
a movement of abject terror through that wedged mass of bodies.
`Don't! don't you frighten them away,' cried some one on
deck disconsolately. I pulled the string time after time.
They broke and ran, they leaped, they crouched, they swerved,
they dodged the flying terror of the sound. The three red
chaps had fallen flat, face down on the shore, as though they
had been shot dead. Only the barbarous and superb woman did
Heart of Darkness |
