| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: MONTAGUE, WARWICK, and Soldiers.]
WARWICK.
I wonder how the king escap'd our hands.
YORK.
While we pursued the horsemen of the North,
He slyly stole away and left his men,
Whereat the great Lord of Northumberland,
Whose warlike ears could never brook retreat,
Cheer'd up the drooping army; and himself,
Lord Clifford, and Lord Stafford, all abreast,
Charg'd our main battle's front, and breaking in,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: the head of her bed.
He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had
changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till
some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from
her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights. 'You,' said the
prince, 'have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish
for but that you should go with me into my father's kingdom, where I
will marry you, and love you as long as you live.'
The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying 'Yes' to
all this; and as they spoke a gay coach drove up, with eight beautiful
horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a golden harness; and
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: impossible.
We arrived at nothing very definite in the matter of
Snider's punishment, since Taylor was for shooting him,
Delcarte insisting that he should be hanged, while I,
although fully conscious of the gravity of his offense,
could not bring myself to give the death penalty.
I fell to wondering what charm Victory had found in such a
man as Snider, and why I insisted upon finding excuses for
her and trying to defend her indefensible act. She was
nothing to me. Aside from the natural gratitude I felt for
her since she had saved my life, I owed her nothing. She
Lost Continent |
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 Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: enough, perhaps, to excuse the throwing of more bank-bills after the
rest. A little more display of talent, a timely political trial or
crisis, an apparent persecution, and Raoul felt certain of becoming
one of those modern "condottieri" whose ink is worth more than powder
and shot of the olden time.
This loan from du Tillet was already made when Florine returned with
fifty thousand francs. Instead of creating a savings fund with that
sum, Raoul, certain of success (simply because he felt it was
necessary), and already humiliated at having accepted the actress's
money, deceived Florine as to his actual position, and persuaded her
to employ the money in refurnishing her house. The actress, who did
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