The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: pitying her.
The queen quivered.
"He insults me!" she exclaimed. "Why do you not hang him?" she cried,
turning to the two brothers, who stood thoughtful.
"What a woman!" said the duke in a glance at his brother, consulting
him by his eye, and leading him to the window.
"I shall stay in France and be revenged upon them," thought the queen.
"Come, make him confess, or let him die!" she said aloud, addressing
Montresor.
The provost-marshal turned away his eyes, the executioners were busy
with the wedges; Catherine was free to cast one glance upon the
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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 The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: He drew himself slowly up upon his elbows, his carbine
ready in his hand, and peered through a small aperture
between two of the rocks which composed his breastwork.
Then he stuck the muzzle of the weapon through, took aim
and pulled the trigger.
"Didje get him?" asked Eddie.
"Yep," said Billy, and fired again. "Got that one too. Say,
they're tough-lookin' guys; but I guess they won't come so
fast next time. Those two were right in the open, workin' up
to us on their bellies. They must a-thought we was sleepin'."
For an hour Billy neither saw nor heard any sign of the
 The Mucker |