| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: removing the tacks.
At sight of it Barney's heart sank. The look of the thing
was all too familiar. Before the yellow one had commenced
to read aloud from it Barney had repeated to himself the
words he knew were coming.
"'Gray eyes,'" read the brigand, "'brown hair, and a full,
reddish-brown beard.' Herman and Friedrich, my dear chil-
dren, you have stumbled upon the richest haul in all Lutha.
Down upon your marrow-bones, you swine, and rub your
low-born noses in the dirt before your king."
The others looked their surprise.
The Mad King |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: Patroclus went up to him and drove a spear into his right jaw; he
thus hooked him by the teeth and the spear pulled him over the
rim of his car, as one who sits at the end of some jutting rock
and draws a strong fish out of the sea with a hook and a line--
even so with his spear did he pull Thestor all gaping from his
chariot; he then threw him down on his face and he died while
falling. On this, as Erylaus was on to attack him, he struck him
full on the head with a stone, and his brains were all battered
inside his helmet, whereon he fell headlong to the ground and the
pangs of death took hold upon him. Then he laid low, one after
the other, Erymas, Amphoterus, Epaltes, Tlepolemus, Echius son of
The Iliad |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: understandeth, I believe you have the better, not only of all who
read, but also of him who wrote it."
He gave Tressilian a scroll of parchment, bearing at top and
bottom, and down the margin, the signs of the seven planets,
curiously intermingled with talismanical characters and scraps of
Greek and Hebrew. In the midst were some Latin verses from a
cabalistical author, written out so fairly, that even the gloom
of the place did not prevent Tressilian from reading them. The
tenor of the original ran as follows:-
"Si fixum solvas, faciasque volare solutum,
Et volucrem figas, facient te vivere tutum;
Kenilworth |
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 Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: "if Jekyll will only let me." For once more he saw before his
mind's eye, as clear as transparency, the strange clauses of the
will.
Dr. Jekyll Was Quite at Ease
A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave
one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all
intelligent, reputable men and all judges of good wine; and Mr.
Utterson so contrived that he remained behind after the others had
departed. This was no new arrangement, but a thing that had
befallen many scores of times. Where Utterson was liked, he was
liked well. Hosts loved to detain the dry lawyer, when the
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
