| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: November, and kiss all the girls under the mistletoe at
Christmas. Roast beef and plum pudding are also held in
superstitious veneration, and port and sherry maintain their
grounds as the only true English wines; all others being
considered vile, outlandish beverages.
Little Britain has its long catalogue of city wonders, which its
inhabitants consider the wonders of the world: such as the
great bell of St. Paul's, which sours all the beer when it tolls;
the figures that strike the hours at St. Dunstan's clock; the
Monument; the lions in the Tower; and the wooden giants in
Guildhall. They still believe in dreams and fortune-telling, and
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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 Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: Then down from the throne, hand in hand, came the Queen and Violet,
and till the moon sank did the Fairies toil, to weave a wreath
of the fairest flowers. Tenderly they gathered them, with the
night-dew fresh upon their leaves, and as they wove chanted sweet
spells, and whispered fairy blessings on the bright messengers
whom they sent forth to die in a dreary land, that their gentle
kindred might bloom unharmed.
At length it was done; and the fair flowers lay glowing
in the soft starlight, while beside them stood the Fairies, singing
to the music of the wind-harps:--
"We are sending you, dear flowers,
 Flower Fables |