| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: I would suffer a hundred deaths rather than quietly submit to
degrading treatment.' `No, no,' he replied, `you will act
quietly and prudently, and we shall be mutually content with each
other.' He begged of me to ascend to one of the highest rooms; I
followed him without a murmur. The archers accompanied us to the
door, and the governor, entering the room, made a sign for them
to depart. `I am your prisoner, I suppose?' said I; `well, what
do you intend to do with me?' He said, he was delighted to see
me adopt so reasonable a tone; that it would be his duty to
endeavour to inspire me with a taste for virtue and religion, and
mine to profit by his exhortations and advice: that lightly as I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: about the Girl, as is the way of traveling men the world over. He
told her about the tiny apartment they had taken, and how he would
be on the road only a couple of years more, as this was just a
try-out that the firm always insisted on. And they stopped under
an arc light while Sam showed her the picture in his watch, as is
also the way of traveling men since time immemorial.
Pearlie made an excellent listener. He was so boyish, and so
much in love, and so pathetically eager to make good with the firm,
and so happy to have some one in whom to confide.
"But it's a dog's life, after all," reflected Sam, again after
the fashion of all traveling men. "Any fellow on the road earns
Buttered Side Down |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: "I do not like that music at my dinner." Just at that moment the
door flew open, in came two huge mastiffs, and the two mice had to
scamper down and run off. "Good-bye, Cousin," said the Country
Mouse, "What! going so soon?" said the other. "Yes," he replied;
"Better beans and bacon in peace
than cakes and ale in fear."
The Fox and the Crow
A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its
beak and settle on a branch of a tree. "That's for me, as I am a
Fox," said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the
tree. "Good-day, Mistress Crow," he cried. "How well you are
Aesop's Fables |
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 Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: among the coral-builders, where all was strange and dim. Long, long,
he worked; but still the waves rolled far above them, and his task was
not yet done; and many bitter tears poor Thistle shed, and sadly he
pined for air and sunlight, the voice of birds, and breath of flowers.
Often, folded in the magic garments which the Spirits gave him, that
he might pass unharmed among the fearful creatures dwelling there,
he rose to the surface of the sea, and, gliding through the waves,
gazed longingly upon the hills, now looking blue and dim so far away,
or watched the flocks of summer birds, journeying to a warmer land;
and they brought sad memories of green old forests, and sunny fields,
to the lonely little Fairy floating on the great, wild sea.
Flower Fables |
