| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: in the sky by the eastern hill, till presently the edge
of the moon burst upwards and flooded the valley with light.
Diggory's form was now distinct on the green; he was moving
about in a bowed attitude, evidently scanning the grass
for the precious missing article, walking in zigzags right
and left till he should have passed over every foot of the ground.
"How very ridiculous!" Thomasin murmured to herself,
in a tone which was intended to be satirical. "To think
that a man should be so silly as to go mooning about
like that for a girl's glove! A respectable dairyman,
too, and a man of money as he is now. What a pity!"
Return of the Native |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: reality, and the bell rang for me to step ashore.
But the vision of the white blot remained clear and distinct. And
the question that it had brought to me, the chain of thoughts that
had linked themselves to it, lingered through the morning, and made
me feel sure that there was an untold secret in Falconer's life and
that the clew to it must be sought in the history of his last
picture.
But how to trace the connection? Every one who had known Falconer,
however slightly, was out of town. There was no clew to follow.
Even the name "Larmone" gave me no help; for I could not find it on
any map of Long Island. It was probably the fanciful title of some
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: And rather than it shall, I will be free
Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words.
PETRUCHIO.
Why, thou say'st true; it is a paltry cap,
A custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie;
I love thee well in that thou lik'st it not.
KATHERINA.
Love me or love me not, I like the cap;
And it I will have, or I will have none.
[Exit HABERDASHER.]
PETRUCHIO.
The Taming of the Shrew |
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 Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: my foul and tattered garments, and a cloak fashioned of bright
feathers for my shoulders.
When supper was done a mat was given me to sleep on in a little
room apart, and here I lay down, thinking that though I might be
lost for ever to my own world, at least I had fallen among a people
who were gentle and kindly, and moreover, as I saw from many
tokens, no savages. One thing, however, disturbed me; I discovered
that though I was well treated, also I was a prisoner, for a man
armed with a copper spear slept across the doorway of my little
room. Before I lay down I looked through the wooden bars which
served as a protection to the window place, and saw that the house
Montezuma's Daughter |
