| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: wear, the latter for the evening; the trade hat, loaded with
flowers, fruit, and ribbons, is unfortunately not unknown; and the
characteristic female dress of the Gilberts no longer universal.
The RIDI is its name: a cutty petticoat or fringe of the smoked
fibre of cocoa-nut leaf, not unlike tarry string: the lower edge
not reaching the mid-thigh, the upper adjusted so low upon the
haunches that it seems to cling by accident. A sneeze, you think,
and the lady must surely be left destitute. 'The perilous,
hairbreadth ridi' was our word for it; and in the conflict that
rages over women's dress it has the misfortune to please neither
side, the prudish condemning it as insufficient, the more frivolous
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: death of their natural son and her subterfuge in adopting the child
who was now the prince. The king at first gave little credit to
this tale, thinking that the queen was either delirious or scheming
against him and his beloved son in some way. But he sent attendants
to the holy order to discover the truth. They soon returned with the
matron of the house and the woman who had nursed the prince as a baby.
"If what the queen tells me is true," said the king, "I have no
happiness, no reason to live. For the only thing I love has been
taken away."
The matron from the holy order solemnly attested to the truth of the
queen's story. "The prince was indeed the baby given us by 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 Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: procurator of the scholars--a post which brought him in a small fee
on each matriculation--and that year he took a fee, among others,
from one of the most remarkable men of that or of any age, Francois
Rabelais himself.
And what shall I say of him?--who stands alone, like Shakespeare, in
his generation; possessed of colossal learning--of all science which
could be gathered in his days--of practical and statesmanlike
wisdom--of knowledge of languages, ancient and modern, beyond all
his compeers--of eloquence, which when he speaks of pure and noble
things becomes heroic, and, as it were, inspired--of scorn for
meanness, hypocrisy, ignorance--of esteem, genuine and earnest, for
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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 Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: house, swinging regularly his long ebony staff, whose gold head
ornamented with precious stones flashed in the morning sun.
Almayer waved his hand to the right towards the point of land, to
him invisible, but in full view from the jetty.
"Oh, Babalatchi! oh!" he called out; "what is the matter there?
can you see?"
Babalatchi stopped and gazed intently at the crowd on the river
bank, and after a little while the astonished Almayer saw him
leave the path, gather up his sarong in one hand, and break into
a trot through the grass towards the muddy point. Almayer, now
greatly interested, ran down the steps of the verandah. The
Almayer's Folly |
