| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: playing capriciously for a time with this emblem of Lakamba's
power, that was also the mark of his servitude; then the breeze
freshened in a sharp gust of wind, and the flag flew out straight
and steady above the trees. A dark shadow ran along the river,
rolling over and covering up the sparkle of declining sunlight.
A big white cloud sailed slowly across the darkening sky, and
hung to the westward as if waiting for the sun to join it there.
Men and things shook off the torpor of the hot afternoon and
stirred into life under the first breath of the sea breeze.
Babalatchi hurried down to the water-gate; yet before he passed
through it he paused to look round the courtyard, with its light
Almayer's Folly |
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 Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: very splendid--darting his big blunt-nosed head along the
ground, and twisting the thirty feet of his body into fantastic
knots and curves, and licking his lips as he thought of his dinner
to come.
"He has not eaten," said Baloo, with a grunt of relief, as
soon as he saw the beautifully mottled brown and yellow jacket.
"Be careful, Bagheera! He is always a little blind after he has
changed his skin, and very quick to strike."
Kaa was not a poison snake--in fact he rather despised the
poison snakes as cowards--but his strength lay in his hug, and
when he had once lapped his huge coils round anybody there was no
The Jungle Book |
