| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: pretty' and 'liked too much'?"
"Now you talk silly," said she. "White man, he come here, I marry
him all-e-same Kanaka; very well then, he marry me all-e-same white
woman. Suppose he no marry, he go 'way, woman he stop. All-e-same
thief, empty hand, Tonga-heart - no can love! Now you come marry
me. You big heart - you no 'shamed island-girl. That thing I love
you for too much. I proud."
I don't know that ever I felt sicker all the days of my life. I
laid down my fork, and I put away "the island-girl"; I didn't seem
somehow to have any use for either, and I went and walked up and
down in the house, and Uma followed me with her eyes, for she was
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: KATHERINA.
Husband, let's follow to see the end of this ado.
PETRUCHIO.
First kiss me, Kate, and we will.
KATHERINA.
What! in the midst of the street?
PETRUCHIO.
What! art thou ashamed of me?
KATHERINA.
No, sir; God forbid; but ashamed to kiss.
PETRUCHIO.
 The Taming of the Shrew |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Octopus by Frank Norris: bourdon of a great bell. It was the trackers exulting on the
trail of the pursued, the prolonged, raucous howl, eager,
ominous, vibrating with the alarm of the tocsin, sullen with the
heavy muffling note of death. But close upon the bay of the
hounds, came the gallop of horses. Five men, their eyes upon the
hounds, their rifles across their pommels, their horses reeking
and black with sweat, swept by in a storm of dust, glinting
hoofs, and streaming manes.
"That was Delaney's gang," exclaimed Annixter. "I saw him."
"The other was that chap Christian," said Vacca, "S. Behrman's
cousin. He had two deputies with him; and the chap in the white
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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 Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: word without spectacles, sat displaying a very creditable expanse of
chest with all the pride of an old man with a mistress. Like old
General Montcornet, that pillar of the Vaudeville, he wore earrings.
Denisart was partial to blue; his roomy trousers and well-worn
greatcoat were both of blue cloth.
" 'How long is it since that old fogy came here?' inquired Maxime,
thinking that he saw danger in the spectacles.
" 'Oh, from the beginning,' returned Antonia, 'pretty nearly two
months ago now.'
" 'Good," said Maxime to himself, 'Cerizet only came to me a month
ago.--Just get him to talk,' he added in Antonia's ear; 'I want to
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