| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: challenged myself.
'Wha's that?' cried a big voice.
I could see it proceeded from a big man in a big nightcap, leaning
from a one-pair window; and as I was not yet abreast of his house,
I judged it was more wise to answer. This was not the first time I
had had to stake my fortunes on the goodness of my accent in a
foreign tongue; and I have always found the moment inspiriting, as
a gambler should. Pulling around me a sort of great-coat I had
made of my blanket, to cover my sulphur-coloured livery, - 'A
friend!' said I.
'What like's all this collieshangie?' said he.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: at any rate have sounded the vaults of the treasure house.'
'They are unfathomable,' smiled Holsten.
'Man,' said the American, with a manifest resolve to justify and
reinstate himself after the flickering contradictions of the
king, 'Man, I say, is only beginning to enter upon his heritage.'
'Tell us some of the things you believe we shall presently learn,
give us an idea of the things we may presently do,' said the king
to Holsten.
Holsten opened out the vistas....
'Science,' the king cried presently, 'is the new king of the
world.'
The Last War: A World Set Free |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: naked, right so all naked shall thy body be turned into earth that
thou were made of. Wherefore thou shouldest think and impress it
in thy mind, that nothing is immortal, but only God, that made the
thing. By the which answer Alexander was greatly astonished and
abashed, and all confused and departed from them.
And albeit that these folk have not the articles of our faith as we
have, natheles, for their good faith natural, and for their good
intent, I trow fully, that God loveth them, and that God take their
service to gree, right as he did of Job, that was a paynim, and
held him for his true servant. And therefore, albeit that there be
many diverse laws in the world, yet I trow, that God loveth always
|
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 Time Machine by H. G. Wells: now and then when a comet glared across the darkling sky. The
band of light that had indicated the sun had long since
disappeared; for the sun had ceased to set--it simply rose and
fell in the west, and grew ever broader and more red. All trace
of the moon had vanished. The circling of the stars, growing
slower and slower, had given place to creeping points of light.
At last, some time before I stopped, the sun, red and very large,
halted motionless upon the horizon, a vast dome glowing with a
dull heat, and now and then suffering a momentary extinction. At
one time it had for a little while glowed more brilliantly again,
but it speedily reverted to its sullen red heat. I perceived by
The Time Machine |
