| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: But Porsenna laying close siege to the city, and a famine raging amongst
the Romans, also a new army of the Tuscans making incursions into the
country, Poplicola, a third time chosen consul, designed to make,
without sallying out, his defense against Porsenna, but, privately
stealing forth against the new army of the Tuscans, put them to flight,
and slew five thousand. The story of Mucius is variously given; we,
like others, must follow the commonly received statement. He was a man
endowed with every virtue, but most eminent in war; and, resolving to
kill Porsenna, attired himself in the Tuscan habit, and, using the
Tuscan language, came to the camp, and approaching the seat where the
king sat amongst his nobles, but not certainly knowing the king, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: exhaustion took effect on him. Or perhaps it was excitement. At any
rate, he fell down in a fit. I thought that all was over, when again I
heard Umbelazi's voice, and felt Saduko's grip loosen at my throat, and
sat up.
"Dog," said the Prince, "where is your assegai? And as he spoke he
threw it from him into the river beneath, for he had picked it up while
we struggled, but, as I noted, retained his own. "Now, dog, why do I
not kill you, as would have been easy but now? I will tell you.
Because I will not mix the blood of a traitor with my own. See!" He
set the haft of his broad spear upon the rock and bent forward over the
blade. "You and your witch-wife have brought me to nothing, O Saduko.
Child of Storm |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: "Ein child," Schmucke repeated mechanically.
"There, then," said the curate; "I will speak to Mme. Cantinet, and
send her to you."
"Do not trouble yourself," said the doctor; "I am going home, and she
lives in the next house."
The dying seem to struggle with Death as with an invisible assassin;
in the agony at the last, as the final thrust is made, the act of
dying seems to be a conflict, a hand-to-hand fight for life. Pons had
reached the supreme moment. At the sound of his groans and cries, the
three standing in the doorway hurried to the bedside. Then came the
last blow, smiting asunder the bonds between soul and body, striking
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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 Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: honor must be preserved at all hazards. He bowed, and, making a
gesture for silence, wound up his harangue in the following
admirable manner:
"It only remains for us, then, to decide whether we shall carry
on the war in our national capacity--one united people against
a common enemy--or whether some champion, famous in former
fights, shall be selected to defy the slayer of our brother
Antaeus to single combat. In the latter case, though not
unconscious that there may be taller men among you, I hereby
offer myself for that enviable duty. And believe me, dear
countrymen, whether I live or die, the honor of this great
Tanglewood Tales |
