| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there
be only one such byroad. It is used but little, and very
different from the coach road from the Bukovina to Bistritz,
which is more wide and hard, and more of use.
So we came down this road. When we meet other ways, not always
were we sure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect
and light snow have fallen, the horses know and they only.
I give rein to them, and they go on so patient. By and by we
find all the things which Jonathan have note in that wonderful
diary of him. Then we go on for long, long hours and hours.
At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep. She try,
Dracula |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: For a Moses who could climb Pisgah, and, though it were through a mist of
bitter tears, could see stretching before him the land of the inheritance,
a land which his feet should never tread and whose fruit his hand should
never touch, it was yet, perhaps, not so hard to turn round and die; for,
as in a dream, he had seen the land: but for the thousands who could climb
no Pisgah, who were to leave their bones whitening in the desert, having
even from afar never seen the true outline of the land; those who, on that
long march, had not even borne the Ark nor struck the timbrel, but carried
only their small household vessels and possessions, for these it was
perhaps not so easy to lie down and perish in the desert, knowing only that
far ahead somewhere, lay a Land of Promise. Nevertheless, it was by the
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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 Gambara by Honore de Balzac: of a rich man and an artist in perfect sympathy and understanding."
"Do you mean it?" asked Gambara, struck with amazement.
"As I have told you, you are a poet more than a musician."
"A poet, a poet! It is better than nothing. But tell me truly, which
do you esteem most highly, Mozart or Homer?"
"I admire them equally."
"On your honor?"
"On my honor."
"H'm! Once more. What do you think of Meyerbeer and Byron?"
"You have measured them by naming them together."
The Count's carriage was waiting. The composer and his noble physician
Gambara |
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 Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: Wagner to Roeckel, 25th Jan. 1854.
The scene then changes to the hall of the Gibichungs by the
Rhine. It is night; and Gutrune, unable to sleep, and haunted by
all sorts of vague terrors, is waiting for the return of her
husband, and wondering whether a ghostly figure she has seen
gliding down to the river bank is Brynhild, whose room is empty.
Then comes the cry of Hagen, returning with the hunting party to
announce the death of Siegfried by the tusk of a wild boar. But
Gutrune divines the truth; and Hagen does not deny it.
Siegfried's body is brought in; Gunther claims the ring; Hagen
will not suffer him to take it; they fight; and Gunther is slain.
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