| 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: "You don't see my children, Professor!" the Warden exclaimed, taking
him by the shoulders and turning him round to face them.
The Professor laughed violently: then he gazed at them through his
great spectacles, for a minute or two, without speaking.
At last he addressed Bruno. "I hope you have had a good night, my child?"
Bruno looked puzzled. "I's had the same night oo've had," he replied.
"There's only been one night since yesterday!"
It was the Professor's turn to look puzzled now.
He took off his spectacles, and rubbed them with his handkerchief.
Then he gazed at them again. Then he turned to the Warden.
"Are they bound?" he enquired.
Sylvie and Bruno |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: together, taking counsel among themselves and saying, 'What shall
we do unto this people even unto the people that have come into
this land to put our iniquity to the blush?' And lo! the devil
entereth into the council chamber, like a lame man of low stature
and gravely apparelled, with a dark and twisted countenance, and
a bright, downcast eye. And he standeth up among the rulers; yea,
he goeth to and fro, whispering to each; and every man lends his
ear, for his word is 'Slay, slay!' But I say unto ye, Woe to them
that slay! Woe to them that shed the blood of saints! Woe to them
that have slain the husband, and cast forth the child, the tender
infant, to wander homeless and hungry and cold, till he die; and
Twice Told Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: summoned and ordered on board by two German officers. The step is
one of those triumphs of temper which can only be admired. Mataafa
is entertaining the plenipotentiary of a sovereign power in treaty
with his own king, and the captain of a German corvette orders him
to quit his guests.
But there was worse to come. I gather that Tamasese was at the
time in the sulks. He had doubtless been promised prompt aid and a
prompt success; he had seen himself surreptitiously helped,
privately ordered about, and publicly disowned; and he was still
the king of nothing more than his own province, and already the
second in command of Captain Brandeis. With the adhesion of some
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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 The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: this clear helplessness.
CHAPTER V
"Oh I say, I want you to stop a little," Henry St. George said to
him at eleven o'clock the night he dined with the head of the
profession. The company - none of it indeed OF the profession -
had been numerous and was taking its leave; our young man, after
bidding good-night to his hostess, had put out his hand in farewell
to the master of the house. Besides drawing from the latter the
protest I have cited this movement provoked a further priceless
word about their chance now to have a talk, their going into his
room, his having still everything to say. Paul Overt was all
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