| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: the merry helmet of Navarre.
Miss De Ormond accepted the swivel chair at Blue-Tie's desk. Then the
gentlemen drew leather-upholstered seats conveniently near, and spoke
of the weather.
"Yes," said she, "I noticed it was warmer. But I mustn't take up too
much of your time during business hours. That is," she continued,
"unless we talk business."
She addressed her words to Blue-Tie, with a charming smile.
"Very well," said he. "You don't mind my cousin being present, do
you? We are generally rather confidential with each other-especially
in business matters."
Options |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: Sir Robert Lee. "Wilt thou back me in this manner?" said she.
"Thou art surely rich enough to risk so much for the sake
of a lady."
"To pleasure my Queen I will do it," said Sir Robert Lee,
"but for the sake of no other in all the world would I wager a groat,
for no man can stand against Tepus and Gilbert and Clifton."
Then turning to the King, Queen Eleanor said, "I want no such aid
as Sir Robert giveth me; but against thy wine and beer and stout bows
of yew I wager this girdle all set with jewels from around my waist;
and surely that is worth more than thine."
"Now, I take thy wager," quoth the King. "Send for thy archers straightway.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: clasps it on her arm.] Why do you put it on as a bracelet? I never
knew it could he worn as a bracelet.
LORD GORING. Really?
MRS. CHEVELEY. [Holding out her handsome arm.] No; but it looks
very well on me as a bracelet, doesn't it?
LORD GORING. Yes; much better than when I saw it last.
MRS. CHEVELEY. When did you see it last?
LORD GORING. [Calmly.] Oh, ten years ago, on Lady Berkshire, from
whom you stole it.
MRS. CHEVELEY. [Starting.] What do you mean?
LORD GORING. I mean that you stole that ornament from my cousin,
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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 Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: then it glowed, glowed and blossomed like my hopes and my desires.
Initiated now into the gloomy secrets of a family, sharing the anguish
of a Christian Niobe, sad with her sadness, my soul darkened, I saw
the valley in the tone of my own thoughts. The fields were bare, the
leaves of the poplars falling, the few that remained were rusty, the
vine-stalks were burned, the tops of the trees were tan-colored, like
the robes in which royalty once clothed itself as if to hide the
purple of its power beneath the brown of grief. Still in harmony with
my thoughts, the valley, where the yellow rays of the setting sun were
coldly dying, seemed to me a living image of my heart.
To leave a beloved woman is terrible or natural, according as the mind
The Lily of the Valley |
