| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: the Polar circles. For their act was unprecedented; it was
criminal; and it was to take them beyond the pale of humanity
into a land of devils. It is not to be wondered at if they
were thrilled by the thought of their unusual situation; and
perhaps the soldier gave utterance to the sentiment of both
when he sang, "in Chinese singing" (so that we see he had
already profited by his lessons), these two appropriate
verses:
"We do not know where we are to sleep to-night,
In a thousand miles of desert where we can see no human
smoke."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare: 2. COUNTREYMAN
And Sennois.
And Rycas, and 3. better lads nev'r dancd
Under green Tree. And yee know what wenches: ha?
But will the dainty Domine, the Schoolemaster,
Keep touch, doe you thinke? for he do's all, ye know.
3. COUNTREYMAN
Hee'l eate a hornebooke ere he faile: goe too, the matter's too
farre driven betweene him and the Tanners daughter, to let slip
now, and she must see the Duke, and she must daunce too.
4. COUNTREYMAN
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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 The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: 'if you be again reduced to such extremities, look round you,
and you will see the earth strewn with assistance. Here, for
instance, growing on the under side of fissures in this
cliff, you will perceive a yellow moss. Trust me, it is both
edible and excellent.'
'Ha!' said Doctor Grierson, 'you know botany!'
'Not I alone,' returned my father, lowering his voice; 'for
see where these have been scraped away. Am I right? Was
that your secret store?'
My father's comrades, he found, when he returned to the
signal-fire, had made a good day's hunting. They were thus
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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 Iliad by Homer: and yet this may hardly be without Achilles coming to know it,
for his mother keeps night and day beside him. Let some one of
you, therefore, send Thetis to me, and I will impart my counsel
to her, namely that Achilles is to accept a ransom from Priam,
and give up the body."
On this Iris fleet as the wind went forth to carry his message.
Down she plunged into the dark sea midway between Samos and rocky
Imbrus; the waters hissed as they closed over her, and she sank
into the bottom as the lead at the end of an ox-horn, that is
sped to carry death to fishes. She found Thetis sitting in a
great cave with the other sea-goddesses gathered round her; there
The Iliad |
