| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: They were dashing off a rollicking folk-song indoors.
When it was finished there came a burst of laughter and
the sharp spat of applauding hands, and shouts of
approbation. The sounds seemed seared upon my brain. I
rose and ran down the path toward the waiting machine.
There in the darkness I buried my shamed face in my hands
and prayed for the tears that would not come.
It seemed hours before I heard Von Gerhard's firm,
quick tread upon the gravel path. He moved about the
machine, adjusting this and that, then took his place at
the wheel without a word. We glided out upon the smooth
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: fortune, and be a rich man, and then, when you are driving
in your own coach, riding your own horse, will you still
look at poor Rosa, the daughter of a jailer, scarcely better
than a hangman?"
Cornelius tried to contradict her, and certainly he would
have done so with all his heart, and with all the sincerity
of a soul full of love.
She, however, smilingly interrupted him, saying, "How is
your tulip going on?"
To speak to Cornelius of his tulip was an expedient resorted
to by her to make him forget everything, even Rosa herself.
The Black Tulip |
