| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: your horse can be brought back with ours."
"Very well; but it is already five o'clock, so make haste."
A quarter of an hour afterward Porthos appeared at the end
of the Rue Ferou on a very handsome genet. Mousqueton
followed him upon an Auvergne horse, small but very
handsome. Porthos was resplendent with joy and pride.
At the same time, Aramis made his appearance at the other
end of the street upon a superb English charger. Bazin
followed him upon a roan, holding by the halter a vigorous
Mecklenburg horse; this was D'Artagnan mount.
The two Musketeers met at the gate. Athos and D'Artagnan
The Three Musketeers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: redness is visible on the skin.
[14] Humboldt, `Personal Narrative,' Eng. translat. vol. iii. p. 229.
[15] Quoted by Prichard, Phys. Hist. of Mankind,
4th edit 1851, vol. i. p. 271.
[16] See, on this head, Burgess, ibid. p. 32. Also Waitz, `Introdnction
to Anthropology,' Eng. edit. vol. i. p. 139. Moreau gives
a detailed account (`Lavater,' 1820, tom. iv. p. 302) of the blushing
of a Madagascar negress-slave when forced by her brutal master to exhibit
her naked bosom.
I am assured by Gaika and by Mrs. Barber that the Kafirs of South Africa never
blush; but this may only mean that no change of colour is distinguishable.
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The War in the Air by H. G. Wells: had a woman's hat full of cock's feathers, and all had wild,
slouching cowboy brims.
Bert sighed and stood up, deeply thoughtful, and Edna watched
him, marvelling. The women stood quite still. He left the
window, and went out into the passage rather slowly, and with the
careworn expression of a man who gives his mind to a complex and
uncertain business. "Edna!" he called, and when she came he
opened the front door.
He asked very simply, and pointing to the foremost of the three,
"That 'im? ... Sure?" ... and being told that it was, shot his
rival instantly and very accurately through the chest. He then
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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 Lucile by Owen Meredith: When he ceased, took the night with its moaning again,
Like the voices of spirits departing in pain.
"Continue," she answer'd, "I listen to hear."
For a moment he did not reply.
Through the drear
And dim light between them, she saw that his face
Was disturb'd. To and fro he continued to pace,
With his arms folded close, and the low restless stride
Of a panther, in circles around her, first wide.
Then narrower, nearer, and quicker. At last
He stood still, and one long look upon her he cast.
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