| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: matter. She had been laid up in Shadwell basin for ever
so long. You can imagine her state. She was all rust,
dust, grime--soot aloft, dirt on deck. To me it was
like coming out of a palace into a ruined cottage. She
was about 400 tons, had a primitive windlass, wooden
latches to the doors, not a bit of brass about her, and a
big square stern. There was on it, below her name in
big letters, a lot of scroll work, with the gilt off, and some
sort of a coat of arms, with the motto 'Do or Die' under-
neath. I remember it took my fancy immensely. There
was a touch of romance in it, something that made me
Youth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: September 17, 1901, she ordered "the viceroys and governors of
other provinces to follow the example of Liu Kun-yi of Liang
Kiang, Chang Chih-tung of Hukuang, and Kuei Chun (Manchu) of
Szechuan, in sending young men of scholastic promise abroad to
study any branch of Western science or art best suited to their
tastes, that in time they may return to China and place the
fruits of their knowledge at the service of the empire." Such
were some of the edicts issued by the Emperor and the Empress
Dowager in their efforts to launch this new system of education
which was to transform the old China into a strong and sturdy
youth. What now were the results?
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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 Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: unexpectedly came upon Arissa, lovely as ever, sitting near the
village waterfall and picking her teeth. Almost out of habit, Sir
Percival spoke: "Arissa, sugar, would you like to go out with
me sometime?"
To which Arissa: "Oh, Perce, didn't I tell you I was busy?"
To which Sir Percival: "Yeah, fair one, but I thought maybe you'd
had a cancellation or something."
To which Arissa: "Well, if I did have a cancellation, I wouldn't
fill it up with you. Besides, what would we do?"
To which Sir Percival: "We could go to dinner."
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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 Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: desires of being immortal, upon such hard conditions, yet in the
two kingdoms before mentioned, of Balnibarbi and Japan, he
observed that every man desired to put off death some time
longer, let it approach ever so late: and he rarely heard of any
man who died willingly, except he were incited by the extremity
of grief or torture. And he appealed to me, whether in those
countries I had travelled, as well as my own, I had not observed
the same general disposition."
After this preface, he gave me a particular account of the
STRULDBRUGS among them. He said, "they commonly acted like
mortals till about thirty years old; after which, by degrees,
Gulliver's Travels |
