| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: against one, and one with a knife: 'I KNICKED 'EM DOWN, three
four!' he cried; and had himself to be taken to the doctor's
and bandaged. Next day, he could not work, glory of battle
swelled too high in his threadpaper breast; he had made a
one-stringed harp for Austin, borrowed it, came to Fanny's
room, and sang war-songs and danced a war dance in honour of
his victory. And it appears, by subsequent advices, that it
was a serious victory enough; four of his assailants went to
hospital, and one is thought in danger. All Vailima rejoiced
at this news.
Five more chapters of David, 22 to 27, go to Baxter. All
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: After a time the party returned to the court. Heavy, round bronze
lids, sunk in the stones of the pavement, covered the cisterns of the
palace. Vitellius noticed that one of these was larger than the
others, and that when struck by his foot it had not their sonority. He
struck them all, one after another; then stamped upon the ground and
shouted:
"I have found it! I have found the buried treasure of Herod!"
Searching for buried treasure was a veritable mania among the Romans.
The tetrarch swore that no treasure was hidden in that spot.
"What is concealed there, then?" the proconsul demanded.
"Nothing--that is, only a man--a prisoner."
Herodias |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: new difficulty now presented itself, for the people had locked their
doors when they went to bed, and Claus found he could not enter the
houses to leave his toys.
"I am afraid, my friends, we have made our journey for nothing," said
he, "for I shall be obliged to carry my playthings back home again
without giving them to the children of this village."
"What's the matter?" asked Flossie.
"The doors are locked," answered Claus, "and I can not get in."
Glossie looked around at the houses. The snow was quite deep in that
village, and just before them was a roof only a few feet above the
sledge. A broad chimney, which seemed to Glossie big enough to admit
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: On a subject of this kind, we can consult the Spider of the waste-
lands. I catch an old Lycosa in the fields and house her, that
same day, under wire, in a burrow where I have prepared a soil to
her liking. If, by my contrivances and with a bit of reed, I have
previously moulded a burrow roughly representing the one from which
I took her, the Spider enters it forthwith and seems pleased with
her new residence. The product of my art is accepted as her lawful
property and undergoes hardly any alterations. In course of time,
a bastion is erected around the orifice; the top of the gallery is
cemented with silk; and that is all. In this establishment of my
building, the animal's behaviour remains what it would be under
The Life of the Spider |
