| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: but his army must have been in danger of being totally cut off.
Security, however, the bane of many a strong country and many a
fortress, betrayed, on this occasion, the district of Argyle to
his enemies. The invaders had only to contend with the natural
difficulties of the path, and with the snow, which, fortunately,
had not fallen in any great quantity. The army no sooner reached
the summit of the ridge of hills dividing Argyleshire from the
district of Breadalbane, than they rushed down upon the devoted
vales beneath them with a fury sufficiently expressive of the
motives which had dictated a movement so difficult and hazardous.
Montrose divided his army into three bodies, in order to produce
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: that he could not return home after his escapade. And
Bridge could not find it in his heart to refuse him, for
the man realized that the boyish waif possessed a sub-
tile attraction, as forceful as it was inexplicable. Not
since he had followed the open road in company with
Billy Byrne had Bridge met one with whom he might
care to 'Pal' before The Kid crossed his path on the
dark and storm swept pike south of Oakdale.
In Byrne, mucker, pugilist, and MAN, Bridge had
found a physical and moral counterpart of himself, for
the slender Bridge was muscled as a Greek god, while
The Oakdale Affair |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: 'What have you done!' said her mother, 'but no one must know about it,
so you must keep silence; what is done can't be undone; we will make
him into puddings.' And she took the little boy and cut him up, made
him into puddings, and put him in the pot. But Marleen stood looking
on, and wept and wept, and her tears fell into the pot, so that there
was no need of salt.
Presently the father came home and sat down to his dinner; he asked,
'Where is my son?' The mother said nothing, but gave him a large dish
of black pudding, and Marleen still wept without ceasing.
The father again asked, 'Where is my son?'
'Oh,' answered the wife, 'he is gone into the country to his mother's
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
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 When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: experience in such domestic matters.
How am I to tell of it? Everything went wrong; as for the
details, let them be. Ultimately Bickley did operate, and if
surpassing skill could have saved her, it would have been done.
But the other man had misjudged the conditions; it was too late,
nothing could help either mother or child, a little girl who died
shortly after she was born but not before she had been
christened, also by the name of Natalie.
I was called in to say farewell to my wife and found her
radiant, triumphant even in her weakness.
"I know now," she whispered in a faint voice. "I understood as
When the World Shook |
