| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: more clever than prudent, perhaps, of Madame de Camps, the reader, we
think, can scarcely be surprised. A certain attraction has been
evident for some time on the part of the frigid countess not only to
the preserver of her daughter, but to the man who under such romantic
and singular circumstances had come before her mind. Carefully
considered, Madame de l'Estorade is seen to be far from one of those
impassible natures which resist all affectionate emotions except those
of the family. With a beauty that was partly Spanish, she had eyes
which her friend Louise de Chaulieu declared could ripen peaches. Her
coldness was not what physicians call congenital; her temperament was
an acquired one. Marrying from /reason/ a man whose mental
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Animal Farm by George Orwell: the problem the animals could not at first solve was how to break up the
stone into pieces of suitable size. There seemed no way of doing this
except with picks and crowbars, which no animal could use, because no
animal could stand on his hind legs. Only after weeks of vain effort did
the right idea occur to somebody-namely, to utilise the force of gravity.
Huge boulders, far too big to be used as they were, were lying all over
the bed of the quarry. The animals lashed ropes round these, and then all
together, cows, horses, sheep, any animal that could lay hold of the
rope--even the pigs sometimes joined in at critical moments--they dragged
them with desperate slowness up the slope to the top of the quarry, where
they were toppled over the edge, to shatter to pieces below. Transporting
Animal Farm |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: exhaustion under the red color, and constantly found reasons for
taking some shorter walk.
So happy couples coming to Saint-Cyr, then the Petite Courtille of
Tours, and knots of folk out for their evening walk along the "dike,"
saw a pale, thin figure dressed in black, a woman with a worn yet
bright face, gliding like a shadow along the terraces. Great suffering
cannot be concealed. The vinedresser's household had grown quiet also.
Sometimes the laborer and his wife and children were gathered about
the door of their cottage, while Annette was washing linen at the
well-head, and Mme. Willemsens and the children sat in the summer-
house, and there was not the faintest sound in those gardens gay with
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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 When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: any fear of that now, for I have made a real job of it." Then
advancing with the horrid tumour in his hands he showed it in
triumph to the crowd beneath, who groaned again and threw
themselves on to their faces. Doubtless now it is the most sacred
relic of Orofena.
When Marama came out of the anesthetic, Bickley gave him
something which sent him to sleep for twelve hours, during all
which time his people waited beneath. This was our dangerous
period, for our difficulty was to persuade them that he was not
dead, although Bickley had assured them that he would sleep for a
time while the magic worked. Still, I was very glad when he woke
When the World Shook |
