| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling: than her husband. She was a large, pale, quiet woman, with heavy
eyelids, over weak eyes, and hair that turned red or yellow as the
lights fell on it.
Bronckhorst was not nice in any way. He had no respect for the
pretty public and private lies that make life a little less nasty
than it is. His manner towards his wife was coarse. There are many
things--including actual assault with the clenched fist--that a wife
will endure; but seldom a wife can bear--as Mrs. Bronckhorst bore--
with a long course of brutal, hard chaff, making light of her
weaknesses, her headaches, her small fits of gayety, her dresses,
her queer little attempts to make herself attractive to her husband
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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 Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: he himself wanted to get hold of it, and, being balked in
his hope, he very nearly fell out with my father, who had
been the cause of his disappointment. The second bulb,
planted by me, has produced the black tulip, and the third
and last" -- saying this, she drew it from her bosom --
"here it is, in the very same paper in which it was wrapped
up together with the two others. When about to be led to the
scaffold, Cornelius van Baerle gave me all the three. Take
it, Monseigneur, take it."
And Rosa, unfolding the paper, offered the bulb to the
Prince, who took it from her hands and examined it.
The Black Tulip |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: and very light from the heat and drought. But that was why cunning
old Sir John started at five in the morning.
And at last he came to the top of Lewthwaite Crag, and there he
bayed, and looked up in their faces, as much as to say, "I tell you
he is gone down here!"
They could hardly believe that Tom would have gone so far; and when
they looked at that awful cliff, they could never believe that he
would have dared to face it. But if the dog said so, it must be
true.
"Heaven forgive us!" said Sir John. "If we find him at all, we
shall find him lying at the bottom." And he slapped his great hand
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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 Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: I had entirely forgotten the rifle in my hand and
the revolvers at my belt; one does not readily syn-
chronize his thoughts with the stone age and the
twentieth century simultaneously.
Now from past habit I still thought in the stone age,
and in my thoughts of the stone age there were no
thoughts of firearms.
The fellow was almost upon Perry when the feel of
the gun in my hand awoke me from the lethargy of
terror that had gripped me. From behind my boulder
I threw up the heavy express rifle--a mighty engine
Pellucidar |
