| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: rise to a general expectation of their marriage. He spoke of it as
a certain event, of which the time alone could be undecided.
>From that moment I observed my friend's behaviour attentively;
and I could then perceive that his partiality for Miss Bennet was
beyond what I had ever witnessed in him. Your sister I also
watched. Her look and manners were open, cheerful, and
engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar regard,
and I remained convinced from the evening's scrutiny, that
though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not
invite them by any participation of sentiment. If YOU have not
been mistaken here, _I_ must have been in error. Your superior
Pride and Prejudice |
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 My Antonia by Willa Cather: As we sat down to the table, it occurred to me that he liked to look at us,
and that our faces were open books to him. When his deep-seeing eyes rested
on me, I felt as if he were looking far ahead into the future for me,
down the road I would have to travel.
At nine o'clock Mr. Shimerda lighted one of our lanterns and put
on his overcoat and fur collar. He stood in the little entry hall,
the lantern and his fur cap under his arm, shaking hands with us.
When he took grandmother's hand, he bent over it as he always did,
and said slowly, `Good woman!' He made the sign of the cross
over me, put on his cap and went off in the dark. As we turned
back to the sitting-room, grandfather looked at me searchingly.
My Antonia |
