| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: travelling alone for the first time."
"Oh! so he is going alone to Monsieur Moreau!" cried Pierrotin, for
the purpose of finding out whether he were really going there.
"Yes," said the mother.
"Then Madame Moreau is willing?" returned Pierrotin, with a sly look.
"Ah!" said the mother, "it will not be all roses for him, poor child!
But his future absolutely requires that I should send him."
This answer struck Pierrotin, who hesitated to confide his fears for
the steward to Madame Clapart, while she, on her part, was afraid of
injuring her boy if she asked Pierrotin for a care which might have
transformed him into a mentor. During this short deliberation, which
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: will be bad enough." And then he told all he knew.
"In the kingdom where we now are there lives a Princess, who is
extraordinarily clever; for she has read all the newspapers in the whole
world, and has forgotten them again--so clever is she. She was lately, it is
said, sitting on her throne--which is not very amusing after all--when she
began humming an old tune, and it was just, 'Oh, why should I not be married?'
"That song is not without its meaning,' said she, and so then she was
determined to marry; but she would have a husband who knew how to give an
answer when he was spoken to--not one who looked only as if he were a great
personage, for that is so tiresome. She then had all the ladies of the court
drummed together; and when they heard her intention, all were very pleased,
Fairy Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: had said a few words in her ear, Marie returned to the window.
Escaping for a moment the perpetual watchfulness of her tyrant, she
cast one glance upon Georges that was brilliant with the fires of love
and hope, seeming to say:--
"I am watching over you."
Had she cried the words aloud, she could not have expressed their
meaning more plainly than in that glance, full of a thousand thoughts,
in which terror, hope, pleasure, the dangers of their mutual situation
all took part. He had passed, in that one moment, from heaven to
martyrdom and from martyrdom back to heaven! So then, the brave young
seigneur, light-hearted and content, walked gaily to his doom;
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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 Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: hired men of my own color who would betray me for a few dollars;
that there were hired men ever on the lookout for fugitives;
that I must trust no man with my secret; that I must not think
of going either upon the wharves or into any colored boarding-house,
for all such places were closely watched; that he was himself unable
to help me; and, in fact, he seemed while speaking to me to fear lest
I myself might be a spy and a betrayer. Under this apprehension,
as I suppose, he showed signs of wishing to be rid of me,
and with whitewash brush in hand, in search of work, he soon disappeared.
This picture, given by poor "Jake," of New York, was a damper
to my enthusiasm. My little store of money would soon be exhausted,
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