| 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: If I, without apparent motive, suggest to a young girl accustomed to
luxury, to elegance, to a life fruitful of all enjoyments of art, a
young girl who loves to idly listen at the opera to Rossini's music,--
if to her I should propose that she deprive herself of fifteen hundred
thousand francs in favor of broken-down old men, or scrofulous
paupers, she would turn her back on me and laugh, or her confidential
friend would tell her that I'm a crazy jester. If in an ecstasy of
love, I should paint to her the charms of a modest life, and a little
home on the banks of the Loire; if I were to ask her to sacrifice her
Parisian life on the altar of our love, it would be, in the first
place, a virtuous lie; in the next, I might only be opening the way to
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: country in the world does the law hold so absolute a language as
in America, and in no country is the right of applying it vested
in so many hands. The administrative power in the United States
presents nothing either central or hierarchical in its
constitution, which accounts for its passing, unperceived. The
power exists, but its representative is not to be perceived.
We have already seen that the independent townships of New
England protect their own private interests; and the municipal
magistrates are the persons to whom the execution of the laws of
the State is most frequently entrusted. *i Besides the general
laws, the State sometimes passes general police regulations; but
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: pieces of gold you should have had them. Think better, friend,
and ask something of more worth than this foolish thing."
"Please your majesty," said Beppo, "I ask nothing else."
The king laughed again. "Then you shall have what you ask," said
he, and he rode away.
The next morning the princess said to Beppo: "This day you shall
go and claim the king's promise of him. Take this ring and this
letter again to Sebastian the Goldsmith. He will fit you with
clothes in which to appear before the king. Then go to the king's
palace that he may whisper those words he has to say into your
ear."
|
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 Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: howling of names and numbers, the laughter and small talk of
cloaked society stepping slowly to its carriages, and the more
bourgeoisie vocalisation of the foot passengers who streamed
along and hummed little bits of music. The fog's denseness was
confusing, too, and at one moment it seemed that the little
narrow street would become inextricably choked and remain so
until some mighty engine would blow the crowd into atoms. It had
been a crowded night. From around Toulouse Street, where led the
entrance to the troisiemes, from the grand stairway, from the
entrance to the quatriemes, the human stream poured into the
street, nearly all with a song on their lips.
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
