| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: taken his action so seriously, so dramatically. She felt sure that
the significance of the whole occurrence had lain in her own
self-consciousness. If she ignored his note it would give undue
importance to a trivial affair. If she replied to it in a serious
spirit it would still leave in his mind the impression that she had
in a susceptible moment yielded to his influence. After all, it
was no great matter to have one's hand kissed. She was provoked at
his having written the apology. She answered in as light and
bantering a spirit as she fancied it deserved, and said she would
be glad to have him look in upon her at work whenever he felt the
inclination and his business gave him the opportunity.
Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: LORD.
EZE 31:1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month,
in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,
EZE 31:2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his
multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
EZE 31:3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair
branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his
top was among the thick boughs.
EZE 31:4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with
her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: him, and retain, by subduing his attendant, the possession of his
faculties, so that he might know whither he was going. It was a vain
attempt. The eyes of the mulatto flashed from the darkness. The fellow
uttered a cry which his fury stifled in his throat, released himself,
threw back De Marsay with a hand like iron, and nailed him, so to
speak, to the bottom of the carriage; then with his free hand, he drew
a triangular dagger, and whistled. The coachman heard the whistle and
stopped. Henri was unarmed, he was forced to yield. He moved his head
towards the handkerchief. The gesture of submission calmed Cristemio,
and he bound his eyes with a respect and care which manifested a sort
of veneration for the person of the man whom his idol loved. But,
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
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 Hellenica by Xenophon: that there is no resisting the fury of desperation. Archidamus,
advancing at the head of but a hundred men, and crossing the one thing
which might have been expected to form an obstacle to the enemy,[8]
began marching uphill against his antagonists. At this crisis these
fire-breathing warriors, these victorious heroes of Leuctra,[9] with
their superiority at every point, aided, moreover, by the advantage of
their position, did not withstand the attack of Archidamus and those
with him, but swerved in flight.
[8] Or, "to serve as his defence"; or, "the one obstacle to his
progress," i.e. Archidamus's. It was a miraculous thing that the
Thebans did not stop him.
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