| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry: End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.
The Gift of the Magi |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: about it," remarked skeptical Anne, sniffing at her narcissi.
"Oh, aren't these flowers sweet! It was lovely of Mrs.
Lynde to give them to me. I have no hard feelings against
Mrs. Lynde now. It gives you a lovely, comfortable feeling
to apologize and be forgiven, doesn't it? Aren't the stars
bright tonight? If you could live in a star, which one would
you pick? I'd like that lovely clear big one away over there
above that dark hill."
"Anne, do hold your tongue." said Marilla, thoroughly
worn out trying to follow the gyrations of Anne's thoughts.
Anne said no more until they turned into their own lane.
Anne of Green Gables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Walking by Henry David Thoreau: you would go to the political world, follow the great
road--follow that market-man, keep his dust in your eyes, and it
will lead you straight to it; for it, too, has its place merely,
and does not occupy all space. I pass from it as from a bean
field into the forest, and it is forgotten. In one half-hour I
can walk off to some portion of the earth's surface where a man
does not stand from one year's end to another, and there,
consequently, politics are not, for they are but as the
cigar-smoke of a man.
The village is the place to which the roads tend, a sort of
expansion of the highway, as a lake of a river. It is the body of
Walking |
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: garden of the Lodge at Ditchingham. The whispers of the wind were
in the trees which clothe the bank of the Vineyard Hills, the scent
of the sweet English flowers was in my nostrils and the balmy air
of June blew on my brow. It was night in this dream of mine, and I
thought that the moon shone sweetly on the meadows and the river,
while from every side came the music of the nightingale. But I was
not thinking of these delightful sights and sounds, though they
were present in my mind, for my eyes watched the church path which
goes up the hill at the back of the house, and my heart listened
for a footstep that I longed to hear. Then there came a sound of
singing from beyond the hill, and the words of the song were sad,
Montezuma's Daughter |
