| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: the heroic at all moments; I own I regret my beautiful young life. All
last night I could not sleep; I remembered the scenes of my childhood;
I fancied I was running in the fields. Ah! I had a future," he said,
suddenly interrupting himself; "and now, twelve men, a sub-lieutenant
shouting 'Carry-arms, aim, fire!' a roll of drums, and infamy! that's
my future now. Oh! there must be a God, or it would all be too
senseless."
Then he took me in his arms and pressed me to him with all his
strength.
"You are the last man, the last friend to whom I can show my soul. You
will be set at liberty, you will see your mother! I don't know whether
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: east at this point and strike back into the road that she had
just left; but today she feared to do so lest she be cut off
before she gained the north and south highroad which the
other road crossed a little farther on.
To her right was a small farm across which she had never
ridden, for she always had made it a point never to trespass
upon fenced grounds. On the opposite side of the farm was
a wood, and somewhere beyond that a small stream which
the highroad crossed upon a little bridge. It was all new
country to her, but it must be ventured.
She took the fence at the edge of the clearing and then
The Mad King |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: reverse slope to look for that punt which we knew from experience
was not always to be found easily. I looked after them with dazed,
misty eyes. One, two, three, four.
"Dominic, where's Cesar?" I cried.
As if repulsing the very sound of the name, the Padrone made that
ample, sweeping, knocking-down gesture. I stepped back a pace and
stared at him fearfully. His open shirt uncovered his muscular
neck and the thick hair on his chest. He planted the oar upright
in the soft soil, and rolling up slowly his right sleeve, extended
the bare arm before my face.
"This," he began, with an extreme deliberation, whose superhuman
The Mirror of the Sea |
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 Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: almost dazzled Dorothy's eyes.
"Aren't they beautiful?" the girl asked, as she breathed in
the spicy scent of the bright flowers.
"I suppose so," answered the Scarecrow. "When I have brains,
I shall probably like them better."
"If I only had a heart, I should love them," added the Tin Woodman.
"I always did like flowers," said the Lion. "They of seem so
helpless and frail. But there are none in the forest so bright as these."
They now came upon more and more of the big scarlet poppies,
and fewer and fewer of the other flowers; and soon they found
themselves in the midst of a great meadow of poppies. Now it is
The Wizard of Oz |
