| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: moved to sing, ever since hath yonder stranger never ceased
from woeful lamentation: sore grief, methinks, hath
encompassed his heart. Nay, but let the minstrel cease,
that we may all alike make merry, hosts and guest, since it
is far meeter so. For all these things are ready for the
sake of the honourable stranger, even the convoy and the
loving gifts which we give him out of our love. In a
brother's place stand the stranger and the suppliant, to
him whose wits have even a little range, wherefore do thou
too hide not now with crafty purpose aught whereof I ask
thee; it were more meet for thee to tell it out. Say, what
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: Please ye we may contrive this afternoon,
And quaff carouses to our mistress' health;
And do as adversaries do in law,
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
GRUMIO, BIONDELLO.
O excellent motion! Fellows, let's be gone.
HORTENSIO.
The motion's good indeed, and be it so:--
Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto.
[Exeunt.]
ACT II.
The Taming of the Shrew |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: respectable young girl, young Ned Bannister was forbidden his
ancestral home. It had been by means of his cousin that this last
iniquity of his had been unearthed, and the boy had taken it to
his grandfather in hot indignation as the last hope of protecting
the reputation of the injured girl. From that hour the evil
hatred of his cousin, always dormant in the heart, flamed into
active heat. The disowned youth swore to be revenged. A short
time later the general died, leaving what little property he had
entirely to the one grandson. This stirred again the bitter rage
of the other. He set fire to the house that had been willed his
cousin, and took a train that night for Wyoming. By a strange
|
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 People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: impelled me to say it I could not have told; but an instant
later I was glad that I had spoken the words, for the reward
of Ajor's proud and happy face was reward indeed.
Al-tan eyed her for several minutes and then turned to me.
"Can you keep her?" he asked, just the tinge of a sneer upon
his face.
I laid my palm upon the grip of my pistol and answered that
I could. He saw the move, glanced at the butt of the automatic
where it protruded from its holster, and smiled. Then he
turned and raising his great bow, fitted an arrow and drew the
shaft far back. His warriors, supercilious smiles upon their
The People That Time Forgot |
