| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: "Ah! ah!" said the Prince de Conde to Raoul, "she is
presentable enough."
"Yes," said Raoul, "but has she not a somewhat haughty
style?"
"Bah! we know these airs very well, vicomte; three months
hence she will be tame enough. But look, there, indeed, is a
pretty face."
"Yes," said Raoul, "and one I am acquainted with."
"Mademoiselle Aure de Montalais," said Madame de Navailles.
The name and Christian name were carefully repeated by
Monsieur.
Ten Years Later |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: They had passed an hour or so thus when Kerchak called
them together, and, with a word of command to them to
follow him, set off toward the sea.
They traveled for the most part upon the ground, where it
was open, following the path of the great elephants whose
comings and goings break the only roads through those
tangled mazes of bush, vine, creeper, and tree. When they
walked it was with a rolling, awkward motion, placing the
knuckles of their closed hands upon the ground and swinging
their ungainly bodies forward.
But when the way was through the lower trees they moved
Tarzan of the Apes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: intolerable solitude that lies hid beneath the delicate laces
and brilliant smile. There was no warmth, no brilliancy, no
summer for this woman; so the stupor and vacancy had time to
gnaw into her face perpetually. She was young, too, though no
one guessed it; so the gnawing was the fiercer.
She lay quiet in the dark corner, listening, through the
monotonous din and uncertain glare of the works, to the dull
plash of the rain in the far distance, shrinking back whenever
the man Wolfe happened to look towards her. She knew, in spite
of all his kindness, that there was that in her face and form
which made him loathe the sight of her. She felt by instinct,
Life in the Iron-Mills |
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 Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: They were sent by the celebrated Earl of Stair, and contained the
melancholy event of a duel betwixt Sir Philip Forester and his
wife's half-brother, Captain Falconer, of the Scotch-Dutch, as
they were then called, in which the latter had been killed. The
cause of quarrel rendered the incident still more shocking. It
seemed that Sir Philip had left the army suddenly, in consequence
of being unable to pay a very considerable sum which he had lost
to another volunteer at play. He had changed his name, and taken
up his residence at Rotterdam, where he had insinuated himself
into the good graces of an ancient and rich burgomaster, and, by
his handsome person and graceful manners, captivated the
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