| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: stolen while she took a nap on the kitchen table"--he
groaned--"and--oh, Jim, you are such a goose! If I could only
manage my own affairs the way I could my friends'! She's too sure
of you, Jimmy. She knows you adore her, and--how brutal could you
be, Jim?"
"Fair," he said. "I may have undiscovered depths of brutality
that I have never had occasion to use. However, I might try.
Why?"
"Listen, Jim," I urged. "It was always Bella who did things here;
she managed the house, she tyrannized over her friends, and she
bullied you. Yes, she did. Now she's here, without your
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: hearing is, as we say, of sound or voice. Is that true?
Yes.
Then if hearing hears itself, it must hear a voice; for there is no other
way of hearing.
Certainly.
And sight also, my excellent friend, if it sees itself must see a colour,
for sight cannot see that which has no colour.
No.
Do you remark, Critias, that in several of the examples which have been
recited the notion of a relation to self is altogether inadmissible, and in
other cases hardly credible--inadmissible, for example, in the case of
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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 Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: colouring a little as I did so, even through my sunburn, but I made no
answer to them, since to do so would have involved a discussion of the
past and its tragical events, into which I had no wish to enter. Panda,
too, remained silent for a while. Then he called to a messenger to
summon the princes, Cetewayo and Umbelazi, and to bid Saduko, the son of
Matiwane, to wait without, in case he should wish to speak with him.
A few minutes later the two princes arrived. I watched their coming
with interest, for they were the most important men in Zululand, and
already the nation debated fiercely which of them would succeed to the
throne. I will try to describe them a little.
They were both of much the same age--it is always difficult to arrive at
Child of Storm |
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 Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: bag that hung round his neck, and handed a sandwich to the King,
who devoured it greedily.
`Another sandwich!' said the King.
`There's nothing but hay left now,' the Messenger said, peeping
into the bag.
`Hay, then,' the King murmured in a faint whisper.
Alice was glad to see that it revived him a good deal.
`There's nothing like eating hay when you're faint,' he remarked
to her, as he munched away.
`I should think throwing cold water over you would be better,'
Alice suggested: `or some sal-volatile.'
Through the Looking-Glass |
