The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: had some cargo to land for the English settlers, one or two of whom had
started a trade with the natives and with parties of the emigrant Boers
who were beginning to enter the territory by the overland route. Those
days I passed on shore, though I would not allow Hans to accompany me
lest he should desert, employing my time in picking up all the
information I could about the state of affairs, especially with
reference to the Zulus, a people with whom I was destined ere long to
make an intimate acquaintance. Needless to say, I inquired both from
natives and from white men whether anything was known of the fate of
Marais's party, but no one seemed even to have heard of them. One thing
I did learn, however, that my old friend, Pieter Retief, with a large
Marie |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling: the country folk in the lanes was enough for me then, as it
is now. I belong here, you see, and I have been mixed up
with people all my days. But most of the others insisted
on being Gods, and having temples, and altars, and
priests, and sacrifices of their own.'
'People burned in wicker baskets?' said Dan. 'Like
Miss Blake tells us about?'
'All sorts of sacrifices,' said Puck. 'If it wasn't men, it
was horses, or cattle, or pigs, or metheglin - that's a
sticky, sweet sort of beer. I never liked it. They were a
stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the Old Things. But
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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 One Basket by Edna Ferber: for Bella, she laughed at him, but she was scared, too. They
both fought the thing, she selfishly, he unselfishly, for the
Byers girl, with her clear, calm eyes and her dependable ways,
was heavy on his heart. Ben's appeal for Bella was merely that
of the magnetic male. She never once thought of his finer
qualities. Her appeal for him was that of the frail and alluring
woman. But in the end they married. The neighborhood was rocked
with surprise.
Usually in a courtship it is the male who assumes the bright
colors of pretense in order to attract a mate. But Ben
Westerveld had been too honest to be anything but himself. He
One Basket |
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 Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: of which, on behalf of every one concerned, I fully acknowledged
the force.
CHAPTER VIII.
NOTHING more vexatious had ever happened to me than to become aware
before Corvick's arrival in England that I shouldn't be there to
put him through. I found myself abruptly called to Germany by the
alarming illness of my younger brother, who, against my advice, had
gone to Munich to study, at the feet indeed of a great master, the
art of portraiture in oils. The near relative who made him an
allowance had threatened to withdraw it if he should, under
specious pretexts, turn for superior truth to Paris - Paris being
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