| 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: and loved each other more than we had ever done before. But, being an
upright woman, Mameena thrust me away from her, saying:
"'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
Child of Storm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: and yet find it impossible to tell which way leads to the village.
Though he knows that he has travelled it a thousand times, he cannot
recognize a feature in it, but it is as strange to him as if it were
a road in Siberia. By night, of course, the perplexity is
infinitely greater. In our most trivial walks, we are constantly,
though unconsciously, steering like pilots by certain well-known
beacons and headlands, and if we go beyond our usual course we still
carry in our minds the bearing of some neighboring cape; and not
till we are completely lost, or turned round -- for a man needs only
to be turned round once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost
-- do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of nature. Every
Walden |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: his nature after a'. Had it been a pet-lamb, there wad hae been
mair to be said. Ye suld keep sheep, Elshie, and no goats, where
there's sae mony deerhounds about--but I'll send ye baith."
"Wretch!" said the Hermit, "your cruelty has destroyed one of
the only creatures in existence that would look on me with
kindness!"
"Dear Elshie," answered Hobbie, "I'm wae ye suld hae cause to say
sae; I'm sure it wasna wi' my will. And yet, it's true, I should
hae minded your goats, and coupled up the dogs. I'm sure I would
rather they had worried the primest wether in my faulds.--Come,
man, forget and forgie. I'm e'en as vexed as ye can be--But I am
|
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 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: near to Alfredston, oddly swathed, pale as a monumental
figure in alabaster, and much stared at by other passengers.
An hour later his thin form, in the long great-coat and blanket
he had come with, but without an umbrella, could have been
seen walking along the five-mile road to Marygreen.
On his face showed the determined purpose that alone sustained him,
but to which has weakness afforded a sorry foundation.
By the up-hill walk he was quite blown, but he pressed on; and at
half-past three o'clock stood by the familiar well at Marygreen.
The rain was keeping everybody indoors; Jude crossed the green
to the church without observation, and found the building open.
Jude the Obscure |
