| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: "Haven't you gone out and asked to see the baby?" said Abby.
"Would we dare unless Eudora Yates offered to show it?" said
Julia, with a surprised air; and the others nodded assent. Then
they all crowded to the front windows and watched from behind the
screens of green flowering things. It was very early in the
spring. Fairly hot days alternated with light frosts. The trees
were touched with sprays of rose and gold and gold-green, but the
wind still blew cold from the northern snows, and the occupant of
Eudora's ancient carriage was presumably wrapped well to shelter
it from harm. There was, in fact, nothing to be seen in the
carriage, except a large roll of blue and white, as Eudora
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Macbeth by William Shakespeare: So wither'd, and so wilde in their attyre,
That looke not like th' Inhabitants o'th' Earth,
And yet are on't? Liue you, or are you aught
That man may question? you seeme to vnderstand me,
By each at once her choppie finger laying
Vpon her skinnie Lips: you should be Women,
And yet your Beards forbid me to interprete
That you are so
Mac. Speake if you can: what are you?
1. All haile Macbeth, haile to thee Thane of Glamis
2. All haile Macbeth, haile to thee Thane of Cawdor
Macbeth |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: care you don't knock over the candlestick."
The scene was lighted by a single candle placed between two rails of
the staircase.
"Cornoiller," said Grandet to his keeper /in partibus/, "have you
brought your pistols?"
"No, monsieur. Mercy! what's there to fear for your copper sous?"
"Oh! nothing," said Pere Grandet.
"Besides, we shall go fast," added the man; "your farmers have picked
out their best horses."
"Very good. You did not tell them where I was going?"
"I didn't know where."
Eugenie Grandet |
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 Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: "It is more than probable, my boy; for if their stay was prolonged, and
above all, if they were still here, some accident would have at last
betrayed their presence."
"But if they were able to go away," observed the lad, "they could not
have been castaways."
"No, Herbert; or, at least, they were what might be called provisional
castaways. It is very possible that a storm may have driven them to the
island without destroying their vessel, and that, the storm over, they went
away again."
"I must acknowledge one thing," said Herbert, "it is that Captain Harding
appears rather to fear than desire the presence of human beings on our
The Mysterious Island |
