| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: dumbfounder them, and they shall not be able to repel it, nor shall
they be respited.
Prophets before thee have been mocked at, but that whereat they
jested encompassed those who mocked.
Say, 'Who shall guard you by night and by day from the Merciful?'
Nay, but they from the mention of their Lord do turn aside.
Have they gods to defend them against us? These cannot help
themselves, nor shall they be abetted against us.
Nay, but we have granted enjoyment to these men and to their fathers
whilst life was prolonged. Do they not see that we come to the land
and shorten its borders? Shall they then prevail?
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: production. She shortens the task by confining herself to a
skeleton of the curve which the other describes to perfection.
The Epeira, therefore, is versed in the geometric secrets of the
Ammonite and the Nautilus pompilus; she uses, in a simpler form,
the logarithmic line dear to the Snail. What guides her? There is
no appeal here to a wriggle of some kind, as in the case of the
Worm that ambitiously aspires to become a Mollusc. The animal must
needs carry within itself a virtual diagram of its spiral.
Accident, however fruitful in surprises we may presume it to be,
can never have taught it the higher geometry wherein our own
intelligence at once goes astray, without a strict preliminary
The Life of the Spider |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: There was something so quaint, so unexpected about that smile that Linda
smiled herself. But she checked herself and said to the boy coldly, "I
don't like babies."
"Don't like babies?" The boy couldn't believe her. "Don't like me? " He
waved his arms foolishly at his mother.
Linda dropped off her chair on to the grass.
"Why do you keep on smiling?" she said severely. "If you knew what I was
thinking about, you wouldn't."
But he only squeezed up his eyes, slyly, and rolled his head on the pillow.
He didn't believe a word she said.
"We know all about that!" smiled the boy.
|
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 Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: escaped convicts; and if he boldly maintained that the wreck had taken
place on the east coast, and led Lord Glenarvan to proceed in that
direction, it was that he hoped to separate him from his ship, seize the
'Duncan,' and make the yacht a pirate in the Pacific."
Here the stranger stopped for a moment. His voice trembled, but he
continued,--
"The expedition set out and proceeded across Australia. It was inevitably
unfortunate, since Ayrton, or Ben Joyce, as he may be called, guided it,
sometimes preceded, sometimes followed by his band of convicts, who had
been told what they had to do.
"Meanwhile, the 'Duncan' had been sent to Melbourne for repairs. It was
The Mysterious Island |
