| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: where, under an old wagon, she was sure to find the precious egg.
One day the children frightened the hen and she flew over their
neighbor's fence and laid her egg in their garden.
Ivan's daughter-in-law heard the hen cackling, but said: "I am
very busy just at present, for this is the eve of a holy day, and
I must clean and arrange this room. I will go for the egg later
on."
When evening came, and she had finished her task, she went to the
barn, and as usual looked under the old wagon, expecting to find
an egg. But, alas! no egg was visible in the accustomed place.
Greatly disappointed, she returned to the house and inquired of
 The Kreutzer Sonata |
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 A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov: did not allow myself even a single scoff at his
expense. She respects him as a father, and will
deceive him as a husband. . . A strange thing,
the human heart in general, and woman's heart
in particular.
Vera's husband, Semyon Vasilevich G----v,
is a distant relation of Princess Ligovski. He
lives next door to her. Vera frequently visits the
Princess. I have given her my promise to make
the Ligovskis' acquaintance, and to pay court to
Princess Mary in order to distract attention from
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