| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: "'I have a husband, who, if he is not dear to me, still is my husband,
and while he lives to him I will be true.' Then, O King, I took counsel
with the evil in my heart, and made a plot in myself to be rid of the
Boar, Masapo, so that when he was dead I might marry Mameena. This was
the plot that I made--that my son and Princess Nandie's should be
poisoned, and that Masapo should seem to poison him, so that he might be
killed as a wizard and I marry Mameena."
Now, at this astounding statement, which was something beyond the
experience of the most cunning and cruel savage present there, a gasp of
astonishment went up from the audience; even old Zikali lifted his head
and stared. Nandie, too, shaken out of her usual calm, rose as though
Child of Storm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: Among the careless destroyers of books still at work should be
classed Government officials. Cart-loads of interesting documents,
bound and unbound, have been sold at various times as
waste-paper,[1] when modern red-tape thought them but rubbish.
Some of them have been rescued and resold at high prices,
but some have been lost for ever.
[1] Nell Gwyn's private Housekeeping Book was among them,
containing most curious particulars of what was necessary in
the time of Charles I for a princely household. Fortunately it
was among the rescued, and is now in a private library.
In 1854 a very interesting series of blue books was commenced
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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 Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: towards life. You are not quite old enough to do that. [ALGERNON
retires to the fireplace.]
JACK. My own darling!
GWENDOLEN. Ernest, we may never be married. From the expression
on mamma's face I fear we never shall. Few parents nowadays pay
any regard to what their children say to them. The old-fashioned
respect for the young is fast dying out. Whatever influence I ever
had over mamma, I lost at the age of three. But although she may
prevent us from becoming man and wife, and I may marry some one
else, and marry often, nothing that she can possibly do can alter
my eternal devotion to you.
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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 Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry: the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated;
we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have
implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and
Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced
additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded;
and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne!
In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and
reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free--
if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which
we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble
struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged
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