| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: it was the woman who had cooked the meal overnight; and she
would murmur, hardly above her breath. "Speak for me before the
gods, Bhagat. Speak for such a one, the wife of so-and-so!"
Now and then some bold child would be allowed the honour, and
Purun Bhagat would hear him drop the bowl and run as fast as his
little legs could carry him, but the Bhagat never came down to
the village. It was laid out like a map at his feet. He could
see the evening gatherings, held on the circle of the threshing-
floors, because that was the only level ground; could see the
wonderful unnamed green of the young rice, the indigo blues of
the Indian corn, the dock-like patches of buckwheat, and, in its
The Second Jungle Book |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: For five months they had been talking of going to lunch at some
country restaurant in the neighborhood of Paris, on Madame
Dufour's birthday, and as they were looking forward very
impatiently to the outing, they had risen very early that
morning. Monsieur Dufour had borrowed the milkman's tilted cart,
and drove himself. It was a very neat, two wheeled conveyance,
with a hood, and in it Madame Dufour, resplendent in a wonderful,
sherry-colored silk dress, sat by the side of her husband.
The old grandmother and the daughter were accommodated with two
chairs, and a yellow-haired youth, of whom, however, nothing was
to be seen except his head, lay at the bottom of the trap.
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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 The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Perhaps not," returned the girl; "but I hope old
Googly doesn't get her, either."
"The King means to sell her for all those jewels,"
observed Button-Bright, his mouth half full of cake and
jam.
"Poor Princess!" sighed Trot. "I'm sorry for her,
although I've never seen her. But if she says no to
Googly-Goo, and means it, what can they do?"
"Don't let us worry about a strange Princess," advised
Cap'n Bill. "I've a notion we're not too safe, ourselves,
with this cruel King."
The Scarecrow of Oz |
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 Youth by Joseph Conrad: to our destination. It is the hurricane month too; but
we will just keep her head for Bankok, and fight the fire.
No more putting back anywhere, if we all get roasted.
We will try first to stifle this 'ere damned combustion by
want of air.'
"We tried. We battened down everything, and still
she smoked. The smoke kept coming out through im-
perceptible crevices; it forced itself through bulkheads
and covers; it oozed here and there and everywhere in
slender threads, in an invisible film, in an incomprehen-
sible manner. It made its way into the cabin, into the
Youth |
