| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: Macumazahn, go to rest, for although your heart has been awakened by
memories this evening, I promise that you shall sleep well to-night,"
and throwing the long hair back off his eyes he looked at me keenly,
wagging his big head to and fro, and burst into another of his great
laughs.
So I went. But, ah! as I went I wept.
Anyone who knew all that story would understand why. But this is not
the place to tell it, that tale of my first love and of the terrible
events which befell us in the time of Dingaan. Still, as I say, I have
written it down, and perhaps one day it will be read.
CHAPTER III
Child of Storm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: whom I have been parted for so long. Shouldst thou permit me to
do so I will still be thy slave, for thou hast only to press the
red stone in the ring and repeat these words: By the red
Aldebaran, I command thee to come,' and I will be with thee
instantly. But if I have my freedom I shall serve thee from
gratitude and love, and not from compulsion and with fear."
"So be it!" said Abdallah. "I have no choice in the matter, and
thou mayest go whither it pleases thee."
No sooner had the words left his lips than the Genie gave a great
cry of rejoicing, so piercing that it made Abdallah's flesh
creep, and then, fetching the black casket a kick that sent it
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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 $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: cold profit on the vast venture, now, and Aleck's imaginary brokers
were shouting frantically by imaginary long-distance, "Sell! sell!
for Heaven's sake SELL!"
She broke the splendid news to Sally, and he, too, said,
"Sell! sell--oh, don't make a blunder, now, you own the earth!--
sell, sell!" But she set her iron will and lashed it amidships,
and said she would hold on for five points more if she died for it.
It was a fatal resolve. The very next day came the historic crash,
the record crash, the devastating crash, when the bottom fell out
of Wall Street, and the whole body of gilt-edged stocks dropped
ninety-five points in five hours, and the multimillionaire was seen
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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 Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: "Dan Cupid, choosing 'midst his mother's graces,
Himself more fair, made scorn of fairest faces."
The young scholar capped her distich forthwith, and bowing to her
with a meaning look,
"'Then, Goddess, turn,' he cried, 'and veil thy light;
Blinded by thine, what eyes can choose aright?'"
"Go, saucy sir," said my lady, in high glee: "the pageant stays
your supreme pleasure."
And away went Mr. Frank as master of the revels, to bring up the
'prentices' pageant; while, for his sake, the nymph of Torridge was
forgotten for awhile by all young dames, and most young gentlemen:
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