| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: Venice; let us set out as beggars, we shall come back millionaires. We
will buy back some of my estates, and you shall be my heir! You shall
be Prince of Varese!"
My head was swimming. For me his confidences reached the proportions
of tragedy; at the sight of that white head of his and beyond it the
black water in the trenches of the Bastille lying still as a canal in
Venice, I had no words to answer him. Facino Cane thought, no doubt,
that I judged him, as the rest had done, with a disdainful pity; his
gesture expressed the whole philosophy of despair.
Perhaps his story had taken him back to happy days and to Venice. He
caught up his clarionet and made plaintive music, playing a Venetian
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: you. Oh, Scarlett, I'd just die if you weren't with me when the
baby came! Yes--Yes, I know I've got Aunt Pitty and she is sweet.
But after all, she's never had a baby, and sometimes she makes me
so nervous I could scream. Don't desert me, darling. You've been
just like a sister to me, and besides," she smiled wanly, "you
promised Ashley you'd take care of me. He told me he was going to
ask you."
Scarlett stared down at her in wonderment. With her own dislike of
this woman so strong she could barely conceal it, how could Melly
love her so? How could Melly be so stupid as not to guess the
secret of her love of Ashley? She had given herself away a hundred
Gone With the Wind |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs:
"It would mean my instant death were my heresy to be suspected
in the court of Kulan Tith, but if I may serve you, Prince,
you have but to command Torkar Bar, Dwar of the Kaolian Road."
Truth and honesty were writ large upon the warrior's noble countenance,
so that I could not but have trusted him, enemy though he should have been.
His title of Captain of the Kaolian Road explained his timely presence
in the heart of the savage forest, for every highway upon Barsoom is
patrolled by doughty warriors of the noble class, nor is there any
service more honorable than this lonely and dangerous duty in the
The Warlord of Mars |
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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: majesty, not only the greatest respect, but, still more, the
most absolute devotion; and that, believe me, with me, sire,
means something. Now, hearing your majesty complain of fate,
I found that you were noble and generous, and bore
misfortune well."
"In truth," said Charles, much astonished, "I do not know
which I ought to prefer, your freedoms or your respects."
"You will choose presently, sire," said D'Artagnan. "Then
your majesty complained to your brother, Louis XIV., of the
difficulty you experienced in returning to England and
regaining your throne for want of men and money."
Ten Years Later |
