| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: man."
"Etienne, we must have offended God; let us kneel down and pray. I
will tell you afterwards."
Etienne and Gabrielle knelt down at the prie-dieu, and the nurse
recited her rosary.
"O God!" prayed the girl, with a fervor which carried her beyond
terrestrial space, "if we have not sinned against thy divine
commandments, if we have not offended the Church, not yet the king,
we, who are one and the same being, in whom love shines with the light
that thou hast given to the pearl of the sea, be merciful unto us, and
let us not be parted either in this world or in that which is to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: follow her. At once the Mangaboos began piling up the rocks of glass
again, and as the little man realized that they were all about to be
entombed in the mountain he said to the children:
"My dears, what shall we do? Jump out and fight?"
"What's the use?" replied Dorothy. "I'd as soon die here as live much
longer among these cruel and heartless people."
"That's the way I feel about it," remarked Zeb, rubbing his wounds.
"I've had enough of the Mangaboos."
"All right," said the Wizard; "I'm with you, whatever you decide. But
we can't live long in this cavern, that's certain."
Noticing that the light was growing dim he picked up his nine piglets,
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: as Muller has remarked, have apparently been exposed to exactly the same
conditions of life; and this shows how unimportant the direct effects of
the conditions of life are in comparison with the laws of reproduction, and
of growth, and of inheritance; for had the action of the conditions been
direct, if any of the young had varied, all would probably have varied in
the same manner. To judge how much, in the case of any variation, we
should attribute to the direct action of heat, moisture, light, food, &c.,
is most difficult: my impression is, that with animals such agencies have
produced very little direct effect, though apparently more in the case of
plants. Under this point of view, Mr. Buckman's recent experiments on
plants seem extremely valuable. When all or nearly all the individuals
On the Origin of Species |
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 The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: "Do you mean about Eudora's going so often to the Lancaster
girls' to tea?" asked Mrs. John Bates, with a slight bridle of
possible knowledge.
"I heard of that," said Mrs. Lee, not to be outdone.
"Land, no," replied Mrs. Glynn. "Didn't she always go there? It
isn't that. It is the most unheard-of thing she had done; but no
woman, unless she had plenty of money to bring it up, would have
done it."
"To bring what up?" asked Abby, sharply. Her eyes looked as
small and bright as needles.
Julia regarded her with intense satisfaction. "What do women
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