| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: "Regard the moon,
La lune ne garde aucune rancune,
She winks a feeble eye,
She smiles into corners.
She smoothes the hair of the grass.
The moon has lost her memory.
A washed-out smallpox cracks her face,
Her hand twists a paper rose,
That smells of dust and old Cologne,
She is alone
With all the old nocturnal smells
Prufrock/Other Observations |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Message by Honore de Balzac: Juliette stole a glance at us. Not a little surprised to find her
husband contriving some frivolous excuse for leaving us together,
she stopped short, giving me a glance--such a glance as women
only can give you. In that look of hers there was the pardonable
curiosity of the mistress of the house confronted with a guest
dropped down upon her from the skies and innumerable doubts,
certainly warranted by the state of my clothes, by my youth and
my expression, all singularly at variance; there was all the
disdain of the adored mistress, in whose eyes all men save one
are as nothing; there were involuntary tremors and alarms; and,
above all, the thought that it was tiresome to have an unexpected
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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 Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: matter, and am not responsible to you or to the white House of Natal; it
is your own matter. These are my words. I have spoken.'"
"I see," I answered. "I am to pull Panda's hot iron out of the fire and
to extinguish the fire. If I succeed I may keep a piece of the iron
when it gets cool, and if I burn my fingers it is my own fault, and I or
my House must not come crying to Panda."
"O Watcher-by-Night, you have speared the bull in the heart," replied
Maputa, the messenger, nodding his shrewd old head. "Well, will you go
up with Saduko?"
"Say to the King, O Messenger, that I will go up with Saduko because I
promised him that I would, being moved by the tale of his wrongs, and
Child of Storm |
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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: this glass bowl towards him, like a goldfish in a pearl-coloured waistcoat.
"My beloved wife has passed away!" He wanted to shout it out before the
doctor spoke.
"Well, she's hooked a boy this time!" said Doctor Erb. Andreas staggered
forward.
"Look out. Keep on your pins," said Doctor Erb, catching Dinzer's arm, and
murmuring, as he felt it, "Flabby as butter."
A glow spread all over Andreas. He was exultant.
"Well, by God! Nobody can accuse ME of not knowing what suffering is," he
said.
10. THE CHILD-WHO-WAS-TIRED.
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