| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: into the foam covered pool beneath. At that moment her eyes saw nothing
physical. They held the faraway light of the dreamer, the look that sees so
much of the past and nothing of the present.
Presently her reflections were broken by the actions of the pony. Madcap had
thrown up her head, laid back her ears and commenced to paw the ground with
her forefeet. Betty looked round to see the cause of Madcap's excitement. What
was that! She saw a tall figure clad in brown leaning against the stone. She
saw a long fishing-rod. What was there so familiar in the poise of that
figure? Madcap dislodged a stone from the path and it went rattling down the
rock, slope and fell with a splash into the water. The man heard it, turned
and faced the hillside. Betty recognized Alfred Clarke. For a moment she
Betty Zane |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: the cemetery. Whirroo! Just missed that half-brick! Mischievous
brutes there were in the world to put such a thing in the road.
Some blooming 'Arry or other! Ought to prosecute a few of these
roughs, and the rest would know better. That must be the buckle
of the wallet was rattling on the mud-guard. How cheerfully the
wheels buzzed!
The cemetery was very silent and peaceful, but the Vale was
waking, and windows rattled and squeaked up, and a white dog came
out of one of the houses and yelped at him. He got off, rather
breathless, at the foot of Kingston Hill, and pushed up. Halfway
up, an early milk chariot rattled by him; two dirty men with
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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 Odyssey by Homer: else she was a goddess, working at her loom and singing sweetly;
so the men shouted to her and called her, whereon she at once
came down, opened the door, and invited us in. The others did
not suspect any mischief so they followed her into the house,
but I staid where I was, for I thought there might be some
treachery. From that moment I saw them no more, for not one of
them ever came out, though I sat a long time watching for them.'
"Then I took my sword of bronze and slung it over my shoulders;
I also took my bow, and told Eurylochus to come back with me and
shew me the way. But he laid hold of me with both his hands and
spoke piteously, saying, 'Sir, do not force me to go with you,
The Odyssey |
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 Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: looked over the hood. He stood in the road just where we had left him.
The driver clambered into his seat, clicked his tongue, and we went
downhill. The brake squeaked horribly from time to time. At the foot
he eased off the noisy mechanism and said, turning half round on his
box--
"We shall see some more of them by-and-by."
"More idiots? How many of them are there, then?" I asked.
"There's four of them--children of a farmer near Ploumar here. . . .
The parents are dead now," he added, after a while. "The grandmother
lives on the farm. In the daytime they knock about on this road, and
they come home at dusk along with the cattle. . . . It's a good farm."
Tales of Unrest |
