| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: slept.
It was a feverish sleep, nevertheless, shattered at brief
intervals by terrible sounds, sounds magnified by her nervous
condition--a sleep visited by dreams that mingled in a strange
way with the impressions of the storm, and more than once made
her heart stop, and start again at its own stopping. One of
these fancies she never could forget--a dream about little
Concha,--Conchita, her firstborn, who now slept far away in the
old churchyard at Barcelona. She had tried to become
resigned,--not to think. But the child would come back night
after night, though the earth lay heavy upon her--night after
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: everything, the young man talked freely of himself.
"And, seriously," said he, "if I missed nothing else at Santa Ysabel, I
should long for--how shall I say it?--for insecurity, for danger, and of
all kinds--not merely danger to the body. Within these walls, beneath
these sacred bells, you live too safe for a man like me."
"Too safe!" These echoed words upon the lips of the pale Padre were a
whisper too light, too deep, for Gaston's heedless ear.
"Why," the young man pursued in a spirit that was but half levity,
"though I yield often to temptation, at times I have resisted it, and
here I should miss the very chance to resist. Your garden could never be
Eden for me, because temptation is absent from it."
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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 The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: The white men sat on the sand and turned their eyes from face to
face as if trying to understand. It was agreed to send the
prisoners into the lagoon where their fate would be decided by
the ruler of the land. The Illanuns only wanted to plunder the
ship. They did not care what became of the men. "But Daman
cares," remarked Hassim to Lingard, when relating what took
place. "He cares, O Tuan!"
Hassim had learned also that the Settlement was in a state of
unrest as if on the eve of war. Belarab with his followers was
encamped by his father's tomb in the hollow beyond the cultivated
fields. His stockade was shut up and no one appeared on the
The Rescue |
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 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: restored to you under certain strange conditions. As for my
daughter, she is merely a child, and has as yet, I am glad to say,
but little interest in such appurtenances of idle luxury. I am
also informed by Mrs. Otis, who, I may say, is no mean authority
upon Art - having had the privilege of spending several winters in
Boston when she was a girl - that these gems are of great monetary
worth, and if offered for sale would fetch a tall price. Under
these circumstances, Lord Canterville, I feel sure that you will
recognise how impossible it would be for me to allow them to remain
in the possession of any member of my family; and, indeed, all such
vain gauds and toys, however suitable or necessary to the dignity
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