| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: Tom waited a long time, till all was quiet; and then he peeped out,
and saw the man lying. At last he screwed up his courage and swam
down to him. "Perhaps," he thought, "the water has made him fall
asleep, as it did me."
Then he went nearer. He grew more and more curious, he could not
tell why. He must go and look at him. He would go very quietly,
of course; so he swam round and round him, closer and closer; and,
as he did not stir, at last he came quite close and looked him in
the face.
The moon shone so bright that Tom could see every feature; and, as
he saw, he recollected, bit by bit, it was his old master, Grimes.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: you?" And she laughed a little, looking extremely attractive.
"Good gracious!"--or, rather, its Zulu equivalent--I answered, for I
began to feel nervous. "What do you mean, Mameena? How could I--"
There I stopped.
"I do not know what I mean, Macumazahn," she exclaimed wildly, "but I
know well enough what you mean--that you are white as snow and I am
black as soot, and that snow and soot don't mix well together."
"No," I answered gravely, "snow is good to look at, and so is soot, but
mingled they make an ugly colour. Not that you are like soot," I added
hastily, fearing to hurt her feelings. "That is your hue"--and I
touched a copper bangle she was wearing--"a very lovely hue, Mameena,
Child of Storm |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: obvious advantage. The advantage of course could only strike him
at the best as rather fantastic; but it was always to the good to
keep hold when you HAD hold, and such an attitude would also after
all involve a high tribute to her fidelity. Of one thing she
absolutely never doubted: Mr. Mudge believed in her with a belief-
-! She believed in herself too, for that matter: if there was a
thing in the world no one could charge her with it was being the
kind of low barmaid person who rinsed tumblers and bandied slang.
But she forbore as yet to speak; she had not spoken even to Mrs.
Jordan; and the hush that on her lips surrounded the Captain's name
maintained itself as a kind of symbol of the success that, up to
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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 Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: Thus the first cargoes homeward from Vinland to Greenland had been
of timber and of raisins, and of vine-stocks, which were not like to
thrive.
And more. Beyond Vinland the Good there was said to be another
land, Whiteman's Land--or Ireland the Mickle, as some called it.
For these Norse traders from Limerick had found Ari Marson, and
Ketla of Ruykjanes, supposed to have been long since drowned at sea,
and said that the people had made him and Ketla chiefs, and baptized
Ari. What is all this? and what is this, too, which the Esquimaux
children taken in Markland told the Northmen, of a land beyond them
where the folk wore white clothes, and carried flags on poles? Are
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