| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: and turn all our merry faces into green wounds and bloody coxcombs,
and then come and tell me he has done us great right?"
"True," said the friar: "he has done neither right nor wrong."
"But he has," said the baron, "he has done both, and I will maintain it
with my glove."
"It shall not need," said Sir Ralph; "I will concede any thing in honour."
"And I," said the baron, "will concede nothing in honour:
I will concede nothing in honour to any man."
"Neither will I, Lord Fitzwater," said Sir Ralph, "in that sense:
but hear me. I was commissioned by the king to apprehend
the Earl of Huntingdon. I brought with me a party of soldiers,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: was probably counting the coins in the purse, while making some
light jests, quite innocent in appearance, but no doubt with the
object of watching for a moment when the sum was worth stealing.
"The old admiral has perhaps good reasons for not marrying
Adelaide, and so the Baroness has tried----"
But at this hypothesis he checked himself, not finishing his
thought, which was contradicted by a very just reflection, "If
the Baroness hopes to get me to marry her daughter," thought he,
"they would not have robbed me."
Then, clinging to his illusions, to the love that already had
taken such deep root, he tried to find a justification in some
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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 One Basket by Edna Ferber: clutched it. Now he crumpled it into a wad and hurled it to the
center of the table, where it struck a sugar bowl, dropped back,
and uncrumpled slowly, reprovingly. "You--you----" Then
bewilderment closed down again like a fog over his countenance.
"But why? I can't see----"
"Because it--because I can't stand it any longer. Flapping.
This is what you do. Like this."
And she did it. Did it with insulting fidelity, being a clever
mimic.
"Well, all I can say is you're crazy, yelling like that, for
nothing."
One Basket |
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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: single favourite, who did not know whither she was going.
They clambered through the cavity, and began to go down on the
other side. The Princess and her maid turned their eyes toward
every part, and seeing nothing to bound their prospect, considered
themselves in danger of being lost in a dreary vacuity. They
stopped and trembled. "I am almost afraid," said the Princess, "to
begin a journey of which I cannot perceive an end, and to venture
into this immense plain where I may be approached on every side by
men whom I never saw." The Prince felt nearly the same emotions,
though he thought it more manly to conceal them.
Imlac smiled at their terrors, and encouraged them to proceed. But
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