| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: to her, for his fame as a minstrel had reached even to the court at
London Town. So straightway Allan took up his harp in his hand, and,
without more asking, touched the strings lightly till they all rang sweetly,
then he sang thus:
"_Gentle river, gentle river,
Bright thy crystal waters flow,
Sliding where the aspens shiver,
Gliding where the lilies blow,
"Singing over pebbled shallows,
Kissing blossoms bending low,
Breaking 'neath the dipping swallows,
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: assistant keeps pigeons, and the principal wants the water
from the roof. Their wives and families are with them, living
cheek by jowl. The children quarrel; Jockie hits Jimsie in
the eye, and the mothers make haste to mingle in the
dissension. Perhaps there is trouble about a broken dish;
perhaps Mrs. Assistant is more highly born than Mrs. Principal
and gives herself airs; and the men are drawn in and the
servants presently follow. `Church privileges have been
denied the keeper's and the assistant's servants,' I read in
one case, and the eminently Scots periphrasis means neither
more nor less than excommunication, `on account of 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 A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain: pitched the tents, picketed the animals, milked the cows,
had supper, paregoricked the men, established the watch,
and went to bed--with orders to call me as soon as we came
in sight of Zermatt.
I awoke about half past ten next morning, and looked around.
We hadn't budged a peg! At first I could not understand it;
then it occurred to me that the old thing must be aground.
So I cut down some trees and rigged a spar on the starboard
and another on the port side, and fooled away upward of
three hours trying to spar her off. But it was no use.
She was half a mile wide and fifteen or twenty miles long,
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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 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: hate his principles, yet I would not have him fall into their
hands, for he will be assuredly burned alive if he does." I
granted this presently, and joined my Englishman with them: and we
concealed the man, and his wife and daughters, on board our ship,
till the sloop put out to go to sea; and then having put all their
goods on board some time before, we put them on board the sloop
after she was got out of the bay. Our seaman was mightily pleased
with this new partner; and their stocks, indeed, were much alike,
rich in tools, in preparations, and a farm - but nothing to begin
with, except as above: however, they carried over with them what
was worth all the rest, some materials for planting sugar-canes,
Robinson Crusoe |
