| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: a kiss; then with the simple heartiness of an artist, "I ask for
her for my wife!" he exclaimed, looking at the Baroness.
Adelaide looked at him with half-wrathful eyes, and Madame de
Rouville, somewhat astonished, was considering her reply, when
the scene was interrupted by a ring at the bell. The old vice-
admiral came in, followed by his shadow, and Madame Schinner.
Having guessed the cause of the grief her son vainly endeavored
to conceal, Hippolyte's mother had made inquiries among her
friends concerning Adelaide. Very justly alarmed by the calumnies
which weighed on the young girl, unknown to the Comte de
Kergarouet, whose name she learned from the porter's wife, she
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: itself, no glass window; nothing but a couple of pipes two inches
across, and standing perhaps eighteen inches high and three feet
apart, with a cap to prevent rain from entering and raised to
permit the passage of air. I picked up a pebble from the roof
and dropped it down, listening with my ear at one of the pipes.
I could hear it strike on something with a sharp, metallic sound,
but it was impossible for me to tell how far it had gone.
I gave up finally and went down the ladder again, getting in
through the ball-room window without being observed. I went back
at once to the trunk-room, and, sitting down on a box, I gave my
mind, as consistently as I could, to the problem before me. If
The Circular Staircase |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: knowledge that no other living creatures share with
them. The nomes are busy people, constantly digging up
gold in one place and taking it to another place, where
they secretly bury it, and perhaps this is the reason
they alone know where to find it. The nomes were ruled,
at the time of which I write, by a King named Kaliko.
King Gos had expected to be pursued by Inga in his
magic boat, so he made all the haste possible, urging
his forty rowers to their best efforts night and day.
To his joy he was not overtaken but landed on the sandy
beach of the Wheelers on the morning of the eighth day.
Rinkitink In Oz |
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 Georgics by Virgil: Steep, as they sow, their pulse-seeds, drenching them
With nitre and black oil-lees, that the fruit
Might swell within the treacherous pods, and they
Make speed to boil at howso small a fire.
Yet, culled with caution, proved with patient toil,
These have I seen degenerate, did not man
Put forth his hand with power, and year by year
Choose out the largest. So, by fate impelled,
Speed all things to the worse, and backward borne
Glide from us; even as who with struggling oars
Up stream scarce pulls a shallop, if he chance
Georgics |
