| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: approached him boldly, spoke a few words in his ear,
handed him a package of tobacco, and passed into the
hut. The black grinned and winked as the European
disappeared within the darkness of the interior.
The Belgian, being one of Achmet Zek's principal
lieutenants, might naturally go where he wished within
or without the village, and so the sentry had not
questioned his right to enter the hut with the white,
woman prisoner.
Within, Werper called in French and in a low whisper:
"Lady Greystoke! It is I, M. Frecoult. Where are you?"
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: Chinese family much resembles the Russian Mir. But so far as his
personal state is concerned, the Chinese son outslaves the Slav.
For he lives at home, under the immediate control of the paternal
will--in the most complete of serfdoms, a filial one. Even existence
becomes a communal affair. From the family mansion, or set of
mansions, in which all its members dwell, to the family mausoleum,
to which they will all eventually be borne, a man makes his life
journey in strict company with his kin.
A man's life is thus but an undivisible fraction of the family life.
How essentially so will appear from the following slight sketch of it.
To begin at the beginning, his birth is a very important event--for
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: surprise might render the pleasure still Greater." "No Cousin
replied he in a languid voice, nothing will convince me that I
can have touched the heart of Henrietta Halton, and if you are
deceived yourself, do not attempt deceiving me." "In short my
Love it was the work of some hours for me to Persuade the poor
despairing Youth that you had really a preference for him; but
when at last he could no longer deny the force of my arguments,
or discredit what I told him, his transports, his Raptures, his
Extacies are beyond my power to describe."
"Oh! the dear Creature, cried I, how passionately he loves me!
But dear Lady Scudamore did you tell him that I was totally
Love and Friendship |
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 Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: by the velvety air of this July night, retraced the road
by which they had come.
"A strange vagary, this of hers, isn't it, Oak?" said
Coggan, curiously.
"Yes." said Gabriel, shortly.
"She won't be in Bath by no daylight!"
"Coggan, suppose we keep this night's work as quiet
as we can?"
"I am of one and the same mind."
"Very well. We shall be home by three o'clock or
so, and can creep into the parish like lambs."
Far From the Madding Crowd |
