| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: spit, and slowly unroasted--how the potatoes were wrapped in their
skins, and handed over to the gardener to be buried--how, when the
mutton had at length attained to rawness, the fire, which had gradually
changed from red-heat to a mere blaze, died down so suddenly that the
cook had only just time to catch its last flicker on the end of a
match--or how the maid, having taken the mutton off the spit, carried
it (backwards, of course) out of the house, to meet the butcher,
who was coming (also backwards) down the road?
The longer I thought over this strange adventure, the more hopelessly
tangled the mystery became: and it was a real relief to meet Arthur in
the road, and get him to go with me up to the Hall, to learn what news
Sylvie and Bruno |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: "Is she not the girl of all the world?" she cried again. "I was never
knowing such a girl so honest and so beautiful."
"And yet she cared no more for Alpin than what she did for a kale-
stock," said I.
"Ah, she will say so indeed!" cries Catriona. "Yet it was for the name
and the gentle kind blood that she took me up and was so good to me."
"Well, I will tell you why it was," said I. "There are all sorts of
people's faces in this world. There is Barbara's face, that everyone
must look at and admire, and think her a fine, brave, merry girl. And
then there is your face, which is quite different - I never knew how
different till to-day. You cannot see yourself, and that is why you do
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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 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: Odd thing that I, who used to clear out for any part of the world
at twenty-four hours' notice, with less thought than most men give
to the crossing of a street, had a moment--I won't say of hesitation,
but of startled pause, before this commonplace affair. The best
way I can explain it to you is by saying that, for a second or two,
I felt as though, instead of going to the centre of a continent,
I were about to set off for the centre of the earth.
"I left in a French steamer, and she called in every blamed
port they have out there, for, as far as I could see,
the sole purpose of landing soldiers and custom-house officers.
I watched the coast. Watching a coast as it slips by the ship
Heart of Darkness |
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 Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: Then he would strike up some ditty which they all knew: a hundred
voices joined in the strain, and the hills once more rang with
revelry.
Since the day when the Princess Martha was buried, the Prince had
not again spoken of marriage. No one, of course, dared to mention
the name of Boris in his presence.
IX.
The young Prince had, in reality, become the happy husband of
Helena. His love for her had grown to be a shaping and organizing
influence, without which his nature would have fallen into its
former confusion. If a thought of a less honorable relation had
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