| 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: blood feud."
"Very good," I answered; "but that mountain cannot be stormed with three
hundred men, fortified as it is with walls and schanzes. Our band would
be destroyed before ever we came to the kraal, since, owing to the
sentries who are set everywhere, it would be impossible to surprise the
place. Also you have forgotten the dogs, Saduko. Moreover, even if it
were possible, I will have nothing to do with the massacre of women and
children, which must happen in an assault. Now, listen to me, O Saduko.
I say let us leave the kraal of Bangu alone, and this coming night send
fifty of our men, under the leadership of the guides, down to yonder
bush, where they will lie hid. Then, after moonrise, when all are
Child of Storm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: general still kept me in confinement. I taxed my ingenuity: I
scanned every imaginable gleam of hope--I could discover nothing
that gave me any prospect of escape, and I feared that I should
experience only more rigid confinement, if I made an unsuccessful
attempt. I thought of some friends from whom I might hope for
aid, but then, how was I to make them aware of my situation? At
length I fancied that I had hit upon a plan so ingenious, as to
offer a fair probability of success. I postponed the details of
its arrangement until after the Superior's return, in case of his
having failed in the object of his visit.
"He soon arrived: I did not observe upon his countenance any of
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: gold lace there, and Goriot sold a piece of silver plate for a
good round sum. It had been twisted out of shape very neatly for
a man that's not used to the trade."
"Really? You don't say so?"
"Yes. One of my friends is expatriating himself; I had been to
see him off on board the Royal Mail steamer, and was coming back
here. I waited after that to see what Father Goriot would do; it
is a comical affair. He came back to this quarter of the world,
to the Rue des Gres, and went into a money-lender's house;
everybody knows him, Gobseck, a stuck-up rascal, that would make
dominoes out of his father's bones, a Turk, a heathen, an old
Father Goriot |
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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: Another savage appeared in the open space, and then another. Close between
them walked a white man, with hands bound behind him. The prisoner and guards
disappeared down stream among the willows.
The splashing continued--grew even louder than before. A warrior came into
view, then another, and another. They walked close together. Two more
followed. They were wading by the side of a raft made of several logs, upon
which were two prostrate figures that closely resembled human beings.
Joe was so intent upon the lithe forms of the Indians that he barely got a
glimpse of their floating prize, whatever it might have been. Bringing up the
rear was an athletic warrior, whose broad shoulders, sinewy arms, and shaved,
polished head Joe remembered well. It was the Shawnee chief, Silvertip.
The Spirit of the Border |
