| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: over the face of the sun. But he turned on the threshold, and
held up his hand towards the King in a warning, or almost a
menacing posture, as he said, "Woe to him who rejects the counsel
of the church, and betaketh himself to the foul divan of the
infidel! King Richard, I do not yet shake the dust from my feet
and depart from thy encampment; the sword falls not--but it hangs
but by a hair. Haughty monarch, we shall meet again."
"Be it so, haughty priest," returned Richard, "prouder in thy
goatskins than princes in purple and fine linen."
The hermit vanished from the tent, and the King continued,
addressing the Arabian, "Do the dervises of the East, wise Hakim,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: leave you your life is to doom you to a fate worse than death. I
regret neither my blood nor my life, but my future and the fortune of
my heart. Your weak hand has overturned my happiness. What hope can I
extort from you in place of all those you have destroyed? You have
brought me down to your level. /To love, to be loved!/ are henceforth
meaningless words to me, as to you. I shall never cease to think of
that imaginary woman when I see a real woman.'
"He pointed to the statue with a gesture of despair.
" 'I shall always have in my memory a divine harpy who will bury her
talons in all my manly sentiments, and who will stamp all other women
with a seal of imperfection. Monster! you, who can give life to
|
