| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: seemed one. His hands were tied to his sides, and his head drooped on his
breast. His eyes were closed; and his limbs, which had once been those of
a powerful man, had fallen away, making the joints stand out. The wool on
his head was wild and thick with neglect, and stood out roughly in long
strands; and his skin was rough with want and exposure.
The riems had cut a little into his ankles; and a small flow of blood had
made the ground below his feet dark.
Peter Halket looked up at him; the man seemed dead. He touched him softly
on the arm, then shook it slightly.
The man opened his eyes slowly, without raising his head; and looked at
Peter from under his weary eyebrows. Except that they moved they might
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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 Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: they fall among us. And verily, to mak' acquaintance with a
man a-come from so far, from the land o' perpetual snow, as
we may say, where wolves and wild boars and other dangerous
animalcules be as common as blackbirds here-about--why, 'tis
a thing we can't do every day; and there's good sound
information for bide-at-homes like we when such a man opens
his mouth."
"Nay, but ye mistake my country," said the young man,
looking round upon them with tragic fixity, till his eye
lighted up and his cheek kindled with a sudden enthusiasm to
right their errors. "There are not perpetual snow and
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
