| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: They do not reveal it. We are not thy kings.
CANTO VI.
I.
"The huntsman has ridden too far on the chase,
And eldrich, and eerie, and strange is the place!
The castle betokens a date long gone by.
He crosses the courtyard with curious eye:
He wanders from chamber to chamber, and yet
From strangeness to strangeness his footsteps are set;
And the whole place grows wilder and wilder, and less
Like aught seen before. Each in obsolete dress,
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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 Master Key by L. Frank Baum: warning him that the Turks were recovering consciousness and engaging
the Tatars with great fierceness. The latter had scattered throughout
the town, thinking themselves perfectly secure, so that not only were
they unprepared to fight, but they became panic-stricken at seeing
their foes return, as it seemed, from death to life. Their usual
courage forsook them, and they ran, terrified, in every direction,
only to be cut down by the revengeful Turkish simitars.
Rob was sitting upon the edge of a marble fountain in the center of
the square when a crowd of victorious Turks appeared and quickly
surrounded him. The boy paid no attention to their gestures and the
Turks feared to approach him nearly, so they stood a short distance
The Master Key |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: thirstily, but refused food. He wanted rest. And with their faces
drifting away in a kind of haze, with the feeling of gentle hands
about him, he lost consciousness.
He slept twenty hours. then he arose, thirsty, hungry, lame,
overworn, and presently went in search of Belding and the business
of the day.
"Your Yaqui was near dead, but guess we'll pull him through," said
Belding. "Dick, the other day that Indian came here by rail and
foot and Lord only knows how else, all the way from New Orleans!
He spoke English better than most Indians, and I know a little
Yaqui. I got some of his story and guessed the rest. The Mexican
Desert Gold |
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 Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: to end with its mysterious labours. In truth, it is only
some gear of the steam ventilator; and you will find the
engineers at hand, and may step out of their door into
the sunlight. For all this while, you have not been
descending towards the earth's centre, but only to the
bottom of the hill and the foundations of the Parliament
House; low down, to be sure, but still under the open
heaven and in a field of grass. The daylight shines
garishly on the back windows of the Irish quarter; on
broken shutters, wry gables, old palsied houses on the
brink of ruin, a crumbling human pig-sty fit for human
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