| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: He, in his turn, finds imitators,
At court the porters, lacqueys, waiters
Their masters' manners still contract,
And footmen, lords, and dukes can act.
Thus, at the court, both great and small
Behave alike, for all ape all.
CHAPTER VII - THE PUPPET SHOW.
THE life of man to represent,
And turn it all to ridicule,
Wit did a puppet-show invent,
Where the chief actor is a fool.
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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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: ordeal as a push in a direction unusual, of course,
and unpleasant, but demanding, after all, for a fair front,
only another turn of the screw of ordinary human virtue.
No attempt, nonetheless, could well require more tact than
just this attempt to supply, one's self, ALL the nature.
How could I put even a little of that article into a suppression
of reference to what had occurred? How, on the other hand, could I
make reference without a new plunge into the hideous obscure?
Well, a sort of answer, after a time, had come to me, and it
was so far confirmed as that I was met, incontestably, by the
quickened vision of what was rare in my little companion.
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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 The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: long before I could either see or hear it, and then when the
thing appeared, he would run snapping at its heels, drawing the
charge away from me until I found safety in some tree; yet
never did the wily Nobs take an unnecessary chance of a mauling.
He would dart in and away so quickly that not even the
lightning-like movements of the great cats could reach him.
I have seen him tantalize them thus until they fairly screamed
in rage.
The greatest inconvenience the hunters caused me was the delay,
for they have a nasty habit of keeping one treed for an hour or
more if balked in their designs; but at last we came in sight
The People That Time Forgot |
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 An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: than you may imagine.' And with that he dropped his eyes, and
seemed to consider the subject at an end.
Our curiosity was mightily excited at this. How, or why, or when,
was this lymphatic bagman martyred? We concluded at once it was on
some religious question, and brushed up our memories of the
Inquisition, which were principally drawn from Poe's horrid story,
and the sermon in TRISTRAM SHANDY, I believe.
On the morrow we had an opportunity of going further into the
question; for when we rose very early to avoid a sympathising
deputation at our departure, we found the hero up before us. He
was breaking his fast on white wine and raw onions, in order to
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