| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: falsehood; and in defiance of him, his gauging-stick, and pen and
inkhorn, I tell him, that I never saw, or tasted, a glass of
unlawful aqua vitae in the house of my Landlord; nay, that, on
the contrary, we needed not such devices, in respect of a
pleasing and somewhat seductive liquor, which was vended and
consumed at the Wallace Inn, under the name of MOUNTAIN DEW. If
there is a penalty against manufacturing such a liquor, let him
show me the statute; and when he does, I'll tell him if I will
obey it or no.
Concerning those who came to my Landlord for liquor, and went
thirsty away, for lack of present coin, or future credit, I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: witch-doctor, who is named Zikali, a man I never saw, had told him that
he must not kill an Englishman, and therefore he wished to spare me,
although one of your people, Hernan Pereira, had whispered to him that I
ought to be killed. Yet I say outright that I think you are foolish to
visit this king with so large a force. Still, I am ready to do so
myself with one or two others. Let me go, then, and try to persuade him
to sign this treaty as to the land. If I am killed or fail, you can
follow after me and do better."
"Allemachte!" exclaimed Retief; "that is a fair offer. But how do I
know, nephew, that when we came to read the treaty we should not find
that it granted all the land to you English and not to us Boers? No,
Marie |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: of the castle."
"My children," said Beauvouloir, "if you love each other, your
happiness requires that you should marry and pass your lives together;
but your marriage depends on the will of monseigneur the duke--"
"My father has promised to gratify all my wishes," cried Etienne
eagerly, interrupting Beauvouloir.
"Write to him, monseigneur," replied the doctor, and give me your
letter that I may enclose it with one which I, myself, have just
written. Bertrand is to start at once and put these despatches into
monseigneur's own hand. I have learned to-night that he is now in
Rouen; he has brought the heiress of the house of Grandlieu with him,
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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 Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: rumoured that he died of love for that devil of a village girl the
daughter of Guillermo the Rich, she that wanders about the wolds
here in the dress of a shepherdess."
"You mean Marcela?" said one.
"Her I mean," answered the goatherd; "and the best of it is, he
has directed in his will that he is to be buried in the fields like
a Moor, and at the foot of the rock where the Cork-tree spring is,
because, as the story goes (and they say he himself said so), that was
the place where he first saw her. And he has also left other
directions which the clergy of the village say should not and must not
be obeyed because they savour of paganism. To all which his great
Don Quixote |
