| 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: with his longbow raised; yet all three of his arrows smote the center
within easy distance of the black. At this no sound of shouting was heard,
for, although it was the best shooting that had been done that day,
the folk of London Town did not like to see the stout Tepus overcome
by a fellow from the countryside, even were he as famous as Little John.
And now stout Gilbert of the White Hand took his place and shot
with the greatest care; and again, for the third time in one day,
he struck all three shafts into the clout.
"Well done, Gilbert!" quoth Robin Hood, smiting him upon the shoulder.
"I make my vow, thou art one of the best archers that ever mine eyes beheld.
Thou shouldst be a free and merry ranger like us, lad, for thou art
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 The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: and from the society of my friends; especially of the light-
hearted, young, harum-scarum kind. This was unavoidable. It was
because I felt myself thrown back upon my own thoughts and
forbidden to seek relief amongst other lives - it was perhaps only
for that reason at first I started an irregular, fragmentary record
of my days.
I made these notes not so much to preserve the memory (one cared
not for any to-morrow then) but to help me to keep a better hold of
the actuality. I scribbled them on shore and I scribbled them on
the sea; and in both cases they are concerned not only with the
nature of the facts but with the intensity of my sensations. It
The Arrow of Gold |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: pretty enough to eat; it seemed she was my only friend in that
queer place; I was ashamed that I had spoken rough to her: and she
was a woman, and my wife, and a kind of a baby besides that I was
sorry for; and the salt of her tears was in my mouth. And I forgot
Case and the natives; and I forgot that I knew nothing of the
story, or only remembered it to banish the remembrance; and I
forgot that I was to get no copra, and so could make no livelihood;
and I forgot my employers, and the strange kind of service I was
doing them, when I preferred my fancy to their business; and I
forgot even that Uma was no true wife of mine, but just a maid
beguiled, and that in a pretty shabby style. But that is to look
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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 Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'I mean only this,' he resumed, 'that I understand all, and do not
blame you. I understand how the brave woman must look down on the
weak man. I think you were wrong in some things; but I have tried
to understand it, and I do. I do not need to forget or to forgive,
Seraphina, for I have understood.'
'I know what I have done,' she said. 'I am not so weak that I can
be deceived with kind speeches. I know what I have been - I see
myself. I am not worth your anger, how much less to be forgiven!
In all this downfall and misery, I see only me and you: you, as you
have been always; me, as I was - me, above all! O yes, I see
myself: and what can I think?'
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