| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: rolling, with its deafening roar, its dark billows beneath
the pale light of a wintry moon.
"Gracious Heaven, we are hesitating!" cried D'Artagnan; "if
we hesitate what will the servants do?"
"I do not hesitate, you know," said Grimaud.
"Sir," interposed Blaisois, "I warn you that I can only swim
in rivers."
"And I not at all," said Musqueton.
But D'Artagnan had now slipped through the window.
"You have decided, friend?" said Athos.
"Yes," the Gascon answered; "Athos! you, who are a perfect
Twenty Years After |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: the truth?'
Did those who misbelieve but know when the fire shall not be
warded off from their faces nor from their backs, and they shall not
be helped! Nay, it shall come on them suddenly, and shall
dumbfounder them, and they shall not be able to repel it, nor shall
they be respited.
Prophets before thee have been mocked at, but that whereat they
jested encompassed those who mocked.
Say, 'Who shall guard you by night and by day from the Merciful?'
Nay, but they from the mention of their Lord do turn aside.
Have they gods to defend them against us? These cannot help
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: enamelled with the pale hepatica, the painted trillium, and the
delicate pink-veined spring beauty. A little later in the year,
when the ferns are uncurling their long fronds, the troops of blue
and white violets will come dancing down to the edge of the stream,
and creep venturously out to the very end of that long, moss-
covered log in the water. Before these have vanished, the yellow
crow-foot and the cinquefoil will appear, followed by the star-
grass and the loose-strife and the golden St. John's-wort. Then
the unseen painter begins to mix the royal colour on his palette,
and the red of the bee-balm catches your eye. If you are lucky,
you may find, in midsummer, a slender fragrant spike of the purple-
|
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 Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: I went faster and faster until at last I bumped on the ground, at the
very end. Just then father lifted the rainbow again, without noticing
me at all, and though I tried to seize the end of it and hold fast,
it melted away entirely and I was left alone and helpless on the cold,
hard earth!"
"It doesn't seem cold to me, Polly," said Dorothy; "but perhaps you're
not warmly dressed."
"I'm so used to living nearer the sun," replied the Rainbow's Daughter,
"that at first I feared I would freeze down here. But my dance has
warmed me some, and now I wonder how I am ever to get home again."
"Won't your father miss you, and look for you, and let down another
The Road to Oz |
