| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: on for hours yet. You must simply get to sleep, or I won't answer
for it."
I did not reply. I bowed forward, and covered my face with my hands.
Presently he returned with a small measure containing a dark liquid.
This he gave me. I took it unresistingly, and he helped me into
the hammock.
When I awoke, it was broad day. For a little while I lay flat,
staring at the roof above me. The rafters, I observed, were made
out of the timbers of a ship. Then I turned my head, and saw a meal
prepared for me on the table. I perceived that I was hungry,
and prepared to clamber out of the hammock, which, very politely
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: Gazette, Speech, sometimes The Russian Word
--but he would not touch The New Times, to
which his host subscribed.
While he was scanning at his ease the political
news, the Tsar's doings, the doings of President,
and ministers and decisions in the Duma, and was
just about to pass on to the general news, thea-
tres, science, murders and cholera, he heard the
luncheon bell ring.
Thanks to the efforts of upwards of ten human
beings--counting laundresses, gardeners, cooks,
The Forged Coupon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: thought you might not be able to see her."
"Why did you say that, dear? I suppose she wanted a headstone.
Was she in mourning?"
"No. She wasn't in mourning, and she didn't want a headstone;
and I thought you couldn't see her." Sue looked critically
and imploringly at him.
"But who was she? Didn't she say?"
"No. She wouldn't give her name. But I know who she was--I think I do!
It was Arabella!"
"Heaven save us! What should Arabella come for? What made you think
it was she?"
Jude the Obscure |
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 Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: deliriums; with scrofulous tumours, full of fetid purulent
matter; with sour frothy ructations: with canine appetites, and
crudeness of digestion, besides many others, needless to mention.
This doctor therefore proposed, "that upon the meeting of the
senate, certain physicians should attend it the three first days
of their sitting, and at the close of each day's debate feel the
pulses of every senator; after which, having maturely considered
and consulted upon the nature of the several maladies, and the
methods of cure, they should on the fourth day return to the
senate house, attended by their apothecaries stored with proper
medicines; and before the members sat, administer to each of them
Gulliver's Travels |
