| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: plate, for Mr. Balfour would stay to dinner, and led me into a
bedroom in the upper part of the house. Here he set before me
water and soap, and a comb; and laid out some clothes that
belonged to his son; and here, with another apposite tag, he left
me to my toilet.
CHAPTER XXVIII
I GO IN QUEST OF MY INHERITANCE
I made what change I could in my appearance; and blithe was I to
look in the glass and find the beggarman a thing of the past, and
David Balfour come to life again. And yet I was ashamed of the
change too, and, above all, of the borrowed clothes. When I had
Kidnapped |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: bid you depart!
Profane not the shrines I have raised in the
clefts of my heart.
DAMAYANTE TO NALA IN THE HOUR OF EXILE
(A fragment)
Shalt thou be conquered of a human fate
My liege, my lover, whose imperial head
Hath never bent in sorrow of defeat?
Shalt thou be vanquished, whose imperial feet
Have shattered armies and stamped empires dead?
Who shall unking thee, husband of a queen?
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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 Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: her. But there was one misfortune: thinking to help, she was rather
towardly than otherwise to my Dutchman. And I could not but reflect
that Miss Balfour had rather suddenly outgrown her bashfulness. And
there was another thing, the difference of our speech. I had the Low
Country tongue and dwelled upon my words; she had a hill voice, spoke
with something of an English accent, only far more delightful, and was
scarce quite fit to be called a deacon in the craft of talking English
grammar; so that, for a brother and sister, we made a most uneven pair.
But the young Hollander was a heavy dog, without so much spirit in his
belly as to remark her prettiness, for which I scorned him. And as
soon as he had found a cover to our heads, he left us alone, which was
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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 The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: passion was still virgin in the depths of her heart. Her principal
attraction came, in fact, from this innate youth, which sometimes,
however, played her false, and gave to her ideas an innocent
expression of desire. Her manner and appearance commanded respect, but
there was always in her bearing, in her voice, a sort of looking
forward to some unknown future, as in girlhood. The most insensible
man would find himself in love with her, and yet be restrained by a
sort of respectful fear, inspired by her courtly and polished manners.
Her soul, naturally noble, but strengthened by cruel trials, was far
indeed from the common run, and men did justice to it. Such a soul
necessarily required a lofty passion; and the affections of Madame de
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