| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: listening to the Chavoncourt girls. One was sixteen, the other
seventeen and a half. Rosalie looked upon her two friends as mere
children because they were not secretly in love.--"If I read it," she
finally decided, after hesitating for an hour between Yes and No, "it
shall, at any rate, be the last. Since I have gone so far as to see
what he wrote to his friend, why should I not know what he says to
/her/? If it is a horrible crime, is it not a proof of love? Oh,
Albert! am I not your wife?"
When Rosalie was in bed she opened the letter, dated from day to day,
so as to give the Duchess a faithful picture of Albert's life and
feelings.
Albert Savarus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: manner. Florence might have been burning with curiosity to know
more about the bandits hidden in the house, the plans of the
cowboys, the reason for Madeline's suppressed emotion; but
instead of asking Madeline questions she introduced the important
subject of what to take on the camping trip. For an hour they
discussed the need of this and that article, selected those
things most needful, and then packed them in Madeline's
duffle-bags.
That done, they decided to lie down, fully dressed as they were
in riding-costume, and sleep, or at least rest, the little
remaining time left before the call to saddle. Madeline turned
The Light of Western Stars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: corpses of their slain apart from those of the enemy[12] and laid them
within the lines, and took their evening meal and slept; but early
next morning Agesilaus ordered Gylis, the polemarch, to marshal the
troops in battle order and to set up a trophy, while each man donned a
wreath in honour of the god, and the pipers piped. So they busied
themselves, but the Thebans sent a herald asking leave to bury their
dead under cover of a truce. And so it came to pass that a truce was
made, and Agesilaus departed homewards, having chosen, in lieu of
supreme greatness in Asia, to rule, and to be ruled, in obedience to
the laws at home.
[12] Reading, {tous ek ton polemion nekrous}, after Weiske.
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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 Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: lying bright upon the green. Looking fearfully toward the bear and
seeing his head was turned away, he snatched up the small thick
blood. Underneath his girdled blanket he hid it in his hand.
On his return to his family, he said within himself : "I'll
pray the Great Spirit to bless it." Thus he built a small round
lodge. Sprinkling water upon the heated heap of sacred stones
within, he made ready to purge his body. "The buffalo blood, too,
must be purified before I ask a blessing upon it," thought the
badger. He carried it into the sacred vapor lodge. After placing
it near the sacred stones, he sat down beside it. After a long
silence, he muttered: "Great Spirit, bless this little buffalo
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