| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: "Be not angry or annoyed at what thou hearest, Sancho," said Don
Quixote, "or there will never be an end of it; keep a safe
conscience and let them say what they like; for trying to stop
slanderers' tongues is like trying to put gates to the open plain.
If a governor comes out of his government rich, they say he has been a
thief; and if he comes out poor, that he has been a noodle and a
blockhead."
"They'll be pretty sure this time," said Sancho, "to set me down for
a fool rather than a thief."
Thus talking, and surrounded by boys and a crowd of people, they
reached the castle, where in one of the corridors the duke and duchess
Don Quixote |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: payment, as it would to a miller that the river that had so
long turned his mill should cease to flow.
Nothing had as yet occurred to shake Cocles' belief; the
last month's payment had been made with the most scrupulous
exactitude; Cocles had detected an overbalance of fourteen
sous in his cash, and the same evening he had brought them
to M. Morrel, who, with a melancholy smile, threw them into
an almost empty drawer, saying: --
"Thanks, Cocles; you are the pearl of cashiers "
Cocles went away perfectly happy, for this eulogium of M.
Morrel, himself the pearl of the honest men of Marseilles,
The Count of Monte Cristo |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain: "It's so; I know it from what I hear."
"Haven't you talked with her about it?"
"No. I've avoided it. I should soon be as wild as she is. That
would not be comfortable."
"I wish I was going, Antonio. There's two things I'd give a lot to
see. One's a railroad."
"She'll see one when she strikes Missouri."
"The other's a bull-fight."
"I've seen lots of them; I wish I could see another."
"I don't know anything about it, except in a mixed-up, foggy way,
Antonio, but I know enough to know it's grand sport."
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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 The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: in the rather tipsy voice, "you say you will ask no favors for your
constituents; then what good will you be to us?"
"My friend, I did not say I would ask nothing for my constituents. I
said I would ask nothing but what was just; but that, I may add, I
shall ask with energy and perseverance, for that is how justice should
be followed up."
"But," persisted the voter, "there are various ways of doing justice;
witness the suit I was made to lose against Jean Remy, with whom I had
trouble about a boundary--"
Colonel Giguet, interrupting,--
"Come, come, you are not going, I hope to talk about your private
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