| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: authority, a worthy and kindly burgomaster like so many a Fleming of
old times, whose homely features and characters have been immortalized
by Flemish painters. The poorer passengers, therefore, received him
with demonstrations of respect that provoked scornful tittering at the
other end of the boat. An old soldier, inured to toil and hardship,
gave up his place on the bench to the newcomer, and seated himself on
the edge of the vessel, keeping his balance by planting his feet
against one of those traverse beams, like the backbone of a fish, that
hold the planks of a boat together. A young mother, who bore her baby
in her arms, and seemed to belong to the working class in Ostend,
moved aside to make room for the stranger. There was neither servility
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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 Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: "None. My order included unloading of rifles."
"Don Carlos?"
"He is in irons, and must answer to General Salazar," replied
Montes.
Madeline looked down the deserted road. How strange to see the
last ruddy glow of the sun over the brow of the mountain range!
The thought of that sunset had been torture for her. Yet it had
passed, and now the afterlights were luminous, beautiful,
prophetic.
With a heart stricken by both joy and agony, she saw Montes wave
the scarf.
The Light of Western Stars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: some powers of observation, and be more or less of a physiognomist;
and even if the rector had no other science than that of goodness, he
had just given proof of rare sensibility. He was therefore struck by
the coldness with which the bishop's secretary met his courteous
advances. Compelled to attribute this manner to some secret annoyance,
the rector sought in his own mind to discover if he had wounded his
guest, or in what way his conduct could seem blameworthy in the eyes
of his superiors.
An awkward silence ensued, which the Abbe de Rastignac broke by a
speech that was full of aristocratic assumption.
"You have a very poor church, monsieur," he said.
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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 Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: shallow footholds in the rock, I scrambled up beside him.
Then I saw why we had come there; for the two rocks, being both
somewhat hollow on the top and sloping one to the other, made a
kind of dish or saucer, where as many as three or four men might
have lain hidden.
All this while Alan had not said a word, and had run and climbed
with such a savage, silent frenzy of hurry, that I knew that he
was in mortal fear of some miscarriage. Even now we were on the
rock he said nothing, nor so much as relaxed the frowning look
upon his face; but clapped flat down, and keeping only one eye
above the edge of our place of shelter scouted all round the
Kidnapped |
