| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'It is the black wind,' he replied dolefully. 'You feel as if you
must do something, and you don't know what it is.'
I noted the aptness of the description; but, indeed, Felipe had
sometimes a strange felicity in rendering into words the sensations
of the body. 'And your mother, too,' said I; 'she seems to feel
this weather much. Do you not fear she may be unwell?'
He stared at me a little, and then said, 'No,' almost defiantly;
and the next moment, carrying his hand to his brow, cried out
lamentably on the wind and the noise that made his head go round
like a millwheel. 'Who can be well?' he cried; and, indeed, I
could only echo his question, for I was disturbed enough myself.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: ran the boat into a cove, and set foot to land; and the man came
heavily behind among the rocks in the deepness of the bracken, but
the Poor Thing went before him like a smoke in the light of the
moon. So they came to the dead-cairn, and they laid their ears to
the stones; and the dead complained withinsides like a swarm of
bees: "Time was that marrow was in our bones, and strength in our
sinews; and the thoughts of our head were clothed upon with acts
and the words of men. But now are we broken in sunder, and the
bonds of our bones are loosed, and our thoughts lie in the dust."
Then said the Poor Thing: "Charge them that they give you the
virtue they withheld".
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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 Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: concession on your father's part, and from one height to another
of squalling, sentimental selfishness upon your uncle's, they
came at last to drive a sort of bargain, from whose ill results
you have recently been smarting. The one man took the lady, the
other the estate. Now, Mr. David, they talk a great deal of
charity and generosity; but in this disputable state of life, I
often think the happiest consequences seem to flow when a
gentleman consults his lawyer, and takes all the law allows him.
Anyhow, this piece of Quixotry on your father's part, as it was
unjust in itself, has brought forth a monstrous family of
injustices. Your father and mother lived and died poor folk; you
Kidnapped |
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 Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: Montegnac; I was his parishioner, he loved me; he knew I was only
misguided, not lost; he did not intend to betray me, but to save me;
in short, he said many such things that stirred my soul to its depths.
That man, madame, commands you to do right with as much force as those
who tell you to do wrong. It was he who told me, poor dear man, that
Catherine was a mother, and that I was dooming two beings to shame and
desertion. 'Well,' I said to him, 'they are like me; I have no
future.' He answered that I had a future, two bad futures, before me--
one in another world, one in this world--if I persisted in not
changing my way of life. In this world, I should die on the scaffold.
If I were captured my defence would be impossible. On the contrary, if
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