| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: would be ours. I said, ``They do not think of it as just
those stalking, stilly standing birds! It is a name for something
hovering, brooding, caring for them.''
The Viceroy spoke with energy. ``Tell them of Father,
Son and Holy Ghost!''
Fray Ignatio stood and spoke, gentle and plain. Diego
Colon made what headway he could. Guacanagari listened,
attentive. The Franciscan had a certainty that presently
he might begin to baptize. His face glowed. I heard him
say to the Admiral, ``If it be possible, senor, leave me
here when you return to Spain! I will convert this chief
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: was naturally adapted for wisdom and virtue; and there they implanted brave
children of the soil, and put into their minds the order of government;
their names are preserved, but their actions have disappeared by reason of
the destruction of those who received the tradition, and the lapse of ages.
For when there were any survivors, as I have already said, they were men
who dwelt in the mountains; and they were ignorant of the art of writing,
and had heard only the names of the chiefs of the land, but very little
about their actions. The names they were willing enough to give to their
children; but the virtues and the laws of their predecessors, they knew
only by obscure traditions; and as they themselves and their children
lacked for many generations the necessaries of life, they directed their
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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 Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: "You forgot Madame de Serizy's dangerous condition, and that you had
promised to save her."
"Ask these rascals in what state they found me, monsieur," said
Jacques Collin, signing to the two constables to come in.
"Unconscious, monsieur, lying on the edge of the grave of the young
man they were burying."
"Save Madame de Serizy," said the Comte de Bauvan, "and you shall have
what you will."
"I ask for nothing," said Jacques Collin. "I surrendered at
discretion, and Monsieur de Granville must have received----"
"All the letters, yes," said the magistrate. "But you promised to save
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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 Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: poems, indeed almost more directly, un-English, Oriental, there
was always this intellectual, critical sense of humour, which
could laugh at one's own enthusiasm as frankly as that enthusiasm
had been set down. And partly the humour, like the delicate
reserve of her manner, was a mask or a shelter. "I have taught
myself," she writes to me from India, "to be commonplace and like
everybody else superficially. Every one thinks I am so nice and
cheerful, so 'brave,' all the banal things that are so
comfortable to be. My mother knows me only as 'such a tranquil
child, but so strong-willed.' A tranquil child!" And she writes
again, with deeper significance: "I too have learnt the subtle
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