| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: Travel improves the mind wonderfully, and does away with all one's
prejudices."
"The King's garden is not the world, you foolish squib," said a big
Roman Candle; "the world is an enormous place, and it would take
you three days to see it thoroughly."
"Any place you love is the world to you," exclaimed a pensive
Catherine Wheel, who had been attached to an old deal box in early
life, and prided herself on her broken heart; "but love is not
fashionable any more, the poets have killed it. They wrote so much
about it that nobody believed them, and I am not surprised. True
love suffers, and is silent. I remember myself once - But it is
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Princess by Alfred Tennyson: And in her hunger mouthed and mumbled it,
And hid her bosom with it; after that
Put on more calm and added suppliantly:
'We two were friends: I go to mine own land
For ever: find some other: as for me
I scarce am fit for your great plans: yet speak to me,
Say one soft word and let me part forgiven.'
But Ida spoke not, rapt upon the child.
Then Arac. 'Ida--'sdeath! you blame the man;
You wrong yourselves--the woman is so hard
Upon the woman. Come, a grace to me!
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: king, was to be had for the taking.
Indeed, as there was more land than we could possibly occupy, I
persuaded Henri Marais, the Prinsloos and the Meyers, with whom I had
trekked from Delagoa, to visit it with me. When they had seen it they
agreed to make it their home in the future, but meanwhile elected to
return to the other Boers for safety's sake. So with the help of some
Kaffirs, of whom there were a few in the district, remnants of those
tribes which Chaka had destroyed, I pegged out an estate of about twelve
thousand acres for myself, and, selecting a site, set the natives to
work to build a rough mud house upon it which would serve as a temporary
dwelling. I should add that the Prinsloos and the Meyers also made
Marie |
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 Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: and sorrows were chopped and cooked, as we have seen already. The pair
then walked up and down, precisely like two animals in a cage, while
mutually playing the following scene:--
"Have you brought the fifteen thousand francs?"
"No, but I have them at home."
"Why not have them in your pocket?" asked Cerizet, sharply.
"I'll tell you," replied Theodose, who, as he walked from the rue
Saint-Dominique to the Estrapade, had decided on his course of action.
The Provencal, writhing upon the gridiron on which his partners held
him, became suddenly possessed with a good idea, which flashed from
the body of the live coal under him. Peril has gleams of light. He
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