| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: (which I am not), I was determined that I would either kill those lions
or they should kill me. So I told Tom that he need not come unless he
liked, but I was going; and being a plucky fellow, a Swazi by birth, he
shrugged his shoulders, muttered that I was mad or bewitched, and
followed doggedly in my tracks.
"We soon reached the kloof, which was about three hundred yards in
length and but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun began. There
might be a lion behind every bush--there certainly were four lions
somewhere; the delicate question was, where. I peeped and poked and
looked in every possible direction, with my heart in my mouth, and was
at last rewarded by catching a glimpse of something yellow moving behind
Long Odds |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: suffered themselves quietly to be taken from their food and
liberty, and neighed and snuffled fondly around their masters,
while they were adjusting their accoutrements for further travel
and additional toil. And each warrior, as he prosecuted his own
task, or assisted with courtesy his companion, looked with
observant curiosity at the equipments of his fellow-traveller,
and noted particularly what struck him as peculiar in the fashion
in which he arranged his riding accoutrements.
Ere they remounted to resume their journey, the Christian Knight
again moistened his lips and dipped his hands in the living
fountain, and said to his pagan associate of the journey, "I
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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 Theaetetus by Plato: as nothing compared with such a requirement; and we may be truly described
as the blind directing the blind; for to add those things which we already
have, in order that we may learn what we already think, is like a soul
utterly benighted.
THEAETETUS: Tell me; what were you going to say just now, when you asked
the question?
SOCRATES: If, my boy, the argument, in speaking of adding the definition,
had used the word to 'know,' and not merely 'have an opinion' of the
difference, this which is the most promising of all the definitions of
knowledge would have come to a pretty end, for to know is surely to acquire
knowledge.
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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 Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: it with your arm round her waist? You must
have been conscious, not only of your own exist-
ence, but of hers," said one of the party.
Ivan Vasilievich cried out, almost shouting in
anger: " There you are, moderns all over! Now-
adays you think of nothing but the body. It was
different in our day. The more I was in love the
less corporeal was she in my eyes. Nowadays you
think of nothing but the body. It was different
in our day. The more I was in love the less cor-
poreal was she in my eyes. Nowadays you set
The Forged Coupon |
