| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: were similar to their European brethren, and are commonly known by the name
of American rabbits.
This produce of the chase was brought back to Granite House, and figured
at the evening repast. The tenants of the warren were not at all to be
despised, for they were delicious. It was a valuable resource of the
colony, and it appeared to be inexhaustible.
On the 31st of May the partitions were finished. The rooms had now only
to be furnished, and this would be work for the long winter days. A chimney
was established in the first room, which served as a kitchen. The pipe
destined to conduct the smoke outside gave some trouble to these amateur
bricklayers. It appeared simplest to Harding to make it of brick clay; as
The Mysterious Island |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: with regard to cruelty that it originated at the sight of the
suffering of OTHERS: there is an abundant, super-abundant
enjoyment even in one's own suffering, in causing one's own
suffering--and wherever man has allowed himself to be persuaded
to self-denial in the RELIGIOUS sense, or to self-mutilation, as
among the Phoenicians and ascetics, or in general, to
desensualisation, decarnalisation, and contrition, to Puritanical
repentance-spasms, to vivisection of conscience and to Pascal-
like SACRIFIZIA DELL' INTELLETO, he is secretly allured and
impelled forwards by his cruelty, by the dangerous thrill of
cruelty TOWARDS HIMSELF.--Finally, let us consider that even the
Beyond Good and Evil |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: "I mean that you'll be sorry."
He stood imploringly before her. "I want to say something worse--
something more outrageous. If you don't understand THIS you'll be
perfectly justified in ordering me out of the house."
She answered him with a glance of divination. "I shall
understand--but you'll be sorry."
"I must take my chance of that." He moved away and tossed the
books about the table. Then he swung round and faced her. "Does
Flamel care for you?" he asked.
Her flush deepened, but she still looked at him without anger.
"What would be the use?" she said with a note of sadness.
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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 Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: "Paris," said she, "is an exceedingly hospitable place; it welcomes
one and all, fortunes stained with shame, and fortunes stained with
blood. Crime and infamy have a right of asylum here; virtue alone is
without altars. But pure hearts have a fatherland in heaven! No one
will have known me! I am proud of it."
And the marchioness was lost in thought.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Carigliano, Marechal, Duc de
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
Father Goriot
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